NAACP honors Neptune PD officers who spoke up on sexual harassment

NEPTUNE - Before the #MeToo movement was heard across the nation, Christine Savage and Elena Gonzalez spoke up about allegations of sexual harassment and racial discrimination in the Neptune Township Police Department.

On Saturday night the Asbury Park-Neptune NAACP honored the women at its annual Freedom Fund Gala, held at the Jumping Brook Country Club.

In 2014, the women settled lawsuits against Neptune Township for $330,000 each. The township did not admit wrongdoing in the lawsuit settlements. But the two said the harassment and racial discrimination never abated and in 2016 they subsequently filed new lawsuits against the township.

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Gonzalez, 45, left the force in April 2017, saying the "abuse only intensified." Savage, 43, a sergeant, has remained with the department.

“It takes a lot of courage for individuals to step up in the workplace and to fight discrimination and sexual harassment," Adrienne Sanders, president of the local NAACP chapter said, as you can see in the video above. “We’re truly thankful these women brought the attention to our township of what was going on in the police department.”

Sanders has called for the township to make public the findings of investigator Gregory K. Turner, who produced a report looking into Gonzalez and Savage's allegations in 2013. The report was submitted to the township committee in 2014, but never formally accepted, keeping it obscured from the public eye. Neptune Township Committee members have indicated this year they plan to read the report amidst public scrutiny of the police force.

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The initial suit from Gonzalez claimed, among other things, that a magnet indicating a love for the male sex organ was placed in the patrol car that Gonzalez used to drive to her assignment as a school resource officer at Neptune High School, according to a 2014 Press report.

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Savage, 43, is a 20-year veteran of the police department.

"I feel like I'm on a righteous path," Savage told gala attendees on Saturday. She said she felt it was important for women to speak out to set an example for young girls in the community. "I want my daughter to know that it's okay to stand up top. To be tall like her mother and wear it well."

Gonzalez, 45, was an 11-year veteran of the force before she resigned last year. She joined the department in 2006 as a police dispatcher

"I never ever thought I would be here. It's been a lonely road and I never knew I had this much support," Gonzalez said to attendees.

Austin Bogues 732-643-4009; abogues@gannettnj.com