Neptune: We'll keep police harassment report secret

Austin Bogues | Asbury Park Press

Show Caption Hide Caption Neptune Township attorney discusses Turner report Township Attorney Gene Anthony explains why the Turner report will not be released

NEPTUNE -The township attorney, defending the township committee's refusal to make public a taxpayer-funded report on the police department, says the denial is warranted because of privacy concerns.

Gene Anthony said the township commissioned Gregory K. Turner Consulting LLC in 2013 to investigate circumstances related to the claims of two female police officers, Christine Savage and Elena Gonzalez, who said they were sexually harassed and discriminated against during their service on the force.

Anthony, reading a statement on behalf of the township committee at its Monday evening meeting, said the release of the so-called "Turner report" would "violate the privacy rights of all individuals involved in the investigation."

"The municipality cannot release the documents requested," Anthony said. You can view a video of his full remarks above this story.

Savage and Gonzalez settled lawsuits with the township for $330,000 each in 2014. But Gonzalez resigned in April, after saying the harassment did not abate. She filed another lawsuit in 2016.

Barbara Burns, president of the Ocean Grove Homeowners Association, questioned the rationale for not disclosing the Turner report.

"If I’m in my own home I have an expectation of privacy. If I am interviewed in the course of an investigation I don’t necessarily have an expectation of privacy. We're sure there are some people who wouldn't want their names released. You can address that issue by redacting their names," Burns said.

Attorneys for one former and one current officer on the force have pressed for the release of the report. Anthony, however, said the report was not authorized for "evaluating the Neptune Township Police Department as a whole."

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The report has never been made public by the township, which contends it is not bound to release the document because the township has never formally accepted the study findings.

Neptune Mayor Michael Brantley and other township committee members say they have never read the study, which was completed at a cost of $27,000 to taxpayers.

Brantley said after the statement was read that "steps have been taken to improve the police department."

The Asbury Park/Neptune chapter of the NAACP recently sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice asking it to investigate the police department. It has also requested a copy of the report.

SECRET REPORT?: Neptune paid $27,000 for police report, and it's a secret

Asbury Park/Neptune Chapter President Adrienne Sanders said Justice Department scrutiny is warranted because of recent discrimination claims by past and present police personnel and questions raised by the fatal 2015 shooting by former Neptune police sergeant Philip Seidle.

He pleaded guilty to manslaughter charges in September, in the shooting death of his ex-wifeTamara Wilson-Seidle, in broad daylight on an Asbury Park street.

Sanders said in an interview with the Press that releasing the report "would bring to light the real environment within that police department and the township."

You can watch a video where she explains her concerns below.

Local NAACP president discusses issues in Neptune Asbury Park/Neptune NAACP President Adrienne Sanders discusses topics from the Turner Report to the resignation of officer Elena Gonzalez.

"As elected officials, you need to develop a measurement tool to actually find out what’s going on internally within that police department," Sanders said Monday evening.

The report has been kept from public view by the township through loopholes in the state Open Records Act.

In May, Neptune Township municipal clerk Rick Cuttrell denied an OPRA request seeking the report.

Cutrell told the Press the report was not an official "government record" under New Jersey state law because it had never been formally accepted by the township committee.

He also said the report could not be released because it was exempt under New Jersey state law protecting investigations regarding sexual harassment and employee grievances.

Attorneys Donald F. Burke and Donald F. Burke Jr., who are representing Neptune Police Officer Kyheem Davis and Gonzalez in separate discrimination lawsuits against the township, unsuccessfully sought the Turner report in 2016 through a subpoena.

This past May, a Monmouth County Superior Court judge also rejected a motion from the attorneys to obtain a copy of the report.

You can view a video of Gonzalez reading her resignation letter below to the township committee.

Watch the emotional resignation of a Neptune officer Elena Gonzalez resigned from the police department, after saying she was repeatedly subjected to sexual harassment and discrimination.

Davis said he was retaliated against for supporting Gonzalez and Savage’s accounts of harassment when he was interviewed for the Turner report.

The Turner report is also being sought by Shelley L. Stangler, the attorney representing the family of Tamara Wilson-Seidle.

The Seidle family filed a federal wrongful death suit where the township and its police department are listed as defendants earlier this month. The suit argues the township police department failed to adequately discipline Philip Seidle and allowed him to retain use of his service weapon.

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