NEPTUNE, New Jersey – A private investigator hired by the township to look into two female officers’ allegations of sexual harassment and discrimination in the Neptune Township Police Department largely concluded the claims were not credible, a long-secret report stated.
A redacted version of the investigator’s 2014 report on the allegations was released Tuesday afternoon, after being kept from public view for more than four years after it was submitted to the township. You can see a video above this story announcing the report’s release.
The report, produced by Gregory K. Turner Investigations & Consulting LLC at a cost of $27,000 to taxpayers, looked into allegations that were made by police officers Christine Savage and Elena Gonzalez.
Gonzalez and Savage alleged they were passed over for promotions and desired assignments. They also claimed they were sexually harassed.
The women filed lawsuits against the township, which they settled for $330,000 each in 2014 and received promotions to sergeant under the terms of the agreements. The township did not admit wrongdoing in the settlements.
But both women subsequently have filed new lawsuits against the township, alleging the harassment and discrimination never abated. Gonzalez left the force in April 2017. Savage continues to serve on the police force.
The report’s release was met with more questions from the women’s attorneys, Donald F. Burke and Donald F. Burke Jr., who are representing them in their lawsuits. The report also generated an outcry from the local chapter of the NAACP, which took issue with some of its conclusions and findings.
“The public is fortunate Neptune Township finally agreed to release the Turner Report, we only wish it didn’t require three years of litigation. We are still left in the dark about remedial action taken, if any, in light of the Turner Report’s findings. We will continue to pursue that inquiry,” Burke Jr. said in an email to the Asbury Park Press.
Michael McGhee, a spokesman for the Police Department, declined to comment when reached by the Press.
‘Simply reveals the immaturity’
Turner conducted 36 interviews as part of the investigation, the report says. He could not be reached by the Press for comment Tuesday.
Among his conclusions, Turner found that “there was no harassment directed specifically toward Gonzalez” when a vehicle she used for duty had a magnet placed on it that stated, “I (heart-shaped sign) my penis.”
The vehicle also was used by other officers on the force, the document states.
In his conclusion, Turner said, “this does not rise to the level of harassment, but simply reveals the (sic) immaturity of others and undermines the validity of the allegation.”
Savage and Gonzalez both complained that they witnessed a male police officer, identified in the report as “E,” place his hands in the area of his genitals, point his penis at others as if he is shooting them, and say ‘pow-pow-pow.'” Savage backed up that account in her interview that was conducted for the report.
Turner says he determined that the “incidents regarding ‘E’ and referred to as the ‘pow pow pow’ episodes did occur” but said they did not take place as described by Gonzalez. The report said “numerous others interviewed” described it as “holding an object below his waist encouraging others to look in that direction.”
Neptune Officer Kyheem Davis said he corroborated Gonzalez and Savage’s accounts of wrongful conduct on the force in a 2013 interview for the Turner investigation.
In July 2016, he alleged that his public support resulted in retaliation: Davis faced discipline for driving faster than 100 mph en route to a 2014 fatal crash and for an incident where he was accused of mishandling an iPhone seized during an arrest.
For full story visit: https://www.app.com/story/news/crime/jersey-mayhem/2018/04/10/immaturity-and-crude-magnets-neptune-releases-secret-report-police-harassment-allegations-police/504861002/