Female Officer Sues Aberdeen Police, Says Dept. Is 'Anti-Military'

ABERDEEN, NJ — A female police officer in the Aberdeen Police Department has sued the police department and the town, alleging she was discriminated against and passed over for promotions because she is a woman, and also because of her reserve work in the U.S. Navy.

The officer who filed the lawsuit is Jessica Marr, and she filed her lawsuit Monday against Aberdeen Police Department, Aberdeen Township, Aberdeen Township manager Bryan Russell and 10 Aberdeen police officers.

Marr is a first-class petty officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve.

In her suit, Marr said she "has been subjected to a strong culture of misogyny and anti-military bias within the Aberdeen Police Department from the very beginning of her hiring." She was a radio dispatcher for 15 years before becoming a police officer and said she's been assigned to the traffic unit since she was hired as a police officer in 2014. She said all her requests to be promoted out of the traffic unit have been denied.

"She has been skipped for promotion for less qualified and less senior, male candidates and is one of only two female officers in the entire department of over 40 officers," wrote her lawyer, Gina Mendola Longarzo, of Chatham. "The 'old boys club' within the department has been supported and has thrived from her day of hiring through the current time, and plaintiff has been shunned, abused and subjected to disparate treatment on an almost daily basis."

Marr said the male officers also spread rumors about her, including that she was a lesbian due to her friendship with a female police officer in Matawan (she was married to her husband at the time), and other rumors that she was sleeping with male police officers. When she told her fellow officers she was married to a man, they started calling her “bipolar," she said.

"As for one prime example, from the beginning of her career through the present, Marr has been continuously denied back-up on motor vehicle stops as an officer on the road. Indeed, her fellow officers do not even acknowledge her stops over the radio and never respond to her scenes, and she is the only officer who is treated in this manner. The situation is extremely dire; in fact, plaintiff has even advised her family that, should anything happen to her while on duty, she would specifically want them to look into whether she had backup."

Marr also said that between 2015 through 2018, one unnamed male officer told her not to respond on his calls because he did not want a female officer as back-up.

"In addition, she frequently left out of information pertaining to suspects and warrants. Most times, she is 'alone' and 'blind' on the road while others are involved in policing suspects together based on shared, inside information."

Alleged anti-military bias within the Aberdeen Police Department

As to the alleged military bias Marr said she has faced, she said she applied to work in the Detective Bureau and a supervising officer told her she could not work because she “plays” on her “puddle jumpers during the weekends.” He was referring to her reservist military duty with the U.S. Navy. He proceeded to ask her when she would be “getting out of the Navy for good” and noted it would afford her more opportunities if she did. He would also frequently disparage her Navy reserve duty as “playing with little boats/tug boats” and as not constituting “anything worthwhile.”

On another occasion, she said another officer told her: “If you spent as much time in Aberdeen as you do in the Navy, maybe you would be a better cop."

Marr said she has not tried to advance her career in the U.S. Navy "due to the continual, disparaging comments and treatment from the Township and Department, she has slowed her naval career by not pursuing her dream of becoming commissioned as an officer within the United States Navy for fear of further retaliation, as this assignment would require more time away."

Aberdeen Township manager Russell and Aberdeen Mayor Fred Tagliarini declined to comment to NJ.com/the Star Ledger when asked about her lawsuit, saying they had not read her lawsuit and do not comment on pending litigation.