NAME CHRISTOPHER ANDERSON AS TUCKERTON BOROUGH POLICE CHIEF

18 years ago, I married one of the most amazing men on this earth. A young, newly appointed police officer in the Tuckerton Borough Police Department, Christopher Anderson. Chris was and still is the epitome of what every officer should be. He was young, enthusiastic, and filled with the kind of old school integrity that every police officer should embody. We had a big beautiful wedding but our honeymoon was put in hold so that he could begin his new career. From the very moment he put that uniform on, he was beaming with pride. He would return home from work every single day with such a glow and spoke of every call for service like an adventure. As a young wife with zero knowledge of police work I of course hung from his every word. I couldn't believe all that he had seen and done during the course of an average day in this sleepy little town where we both grew up.
A few short years into his career he was involved in a police involved shooting. A pharmacy in our neighboring town had just been robbed and Chris, along with two other officers from Little Egg ended up stopping the car with the fleeing suspects. The passenger began firing at them from the vehicle and they returned fire. Luckily, none of the officers were injured during the exchange of gunfire and only the suspect was wounded. I will never forget receiving that phone call from my husband from the scene. It was truly a life changing event for both of us. It affected him in ways that neither of us were prepared to recognize. For me, it was a turning point as well. Not long after that, I began taking an interest in pursuing the profession, myself.
Chris and the other officers involved were honored with various awards. He also tested for and was promoted to the rank of sergeant just 3 years into his career. He is that officer who takes care in making sure his leather gear and boots are always shining, and his uniform is always neatly pressed. Again, he wears it with pride every single day. Chris has always been the type of guy to take on any and every responsibility thrown at him regardless of whether it was really HIS job or perhaps someone else's. He understood the chain of command, and he was not a part of the newer generation of police officers who constantly need to be told "why" when they are tasked with doing something. If his superiors gave an order, then unless it was unlawful, he did it, no questions asked.
Several times over the last 6-8 years, he was told he was being promoted to lieutenant. 3 separate times, he was told to have bars sewn on his uniforms prior to a certain date it was to have taken place. The 4th time it finally happened. This was 2 years ago. Chris had already been doing the work of a sergeant, lieutenant, and for the most part, a chief behind the scenes while others took credit for it. I knew this for quite some time and it bothered me so much but he insisted on continuing to do it all because he was so incredibly dedicated. In fact the level of dedication to his job played a huge part in the destruction of our marriage. At times I felt as if I just couldn't compete.
While most people are able to leave work and enjoy a mostly normal family life Chris and I never enjoyed that. His phone would ring constantly because either the chief would call him or the junior guys would have questions. Not a day would go by without several phone calls from work. Even vacations were often interrupted by work. There was never an off switch for Chris. If he wasn't being bothered by someone by phone, he would have to run in to do payroll or have other responsibilities to take care of. He was also always making sure his training was up to date and he never lost his passion for learning everything he can about this ever changing job we do.
Even after finally being promoted to lieutenant, Chris was always bringing work home. By then we had separated but we remain very close to this day. Rarely does a day go by that we don't speak. He took on the daunting task of achieving accreditation for the Tuckerton Police Department. He pretty much single handedly prepared the department for the accreditation and passed without error the very first time. No other department in the state had done so! This is a department that was formerly the butt of many jokes from across the township line. Little Egg referred to Tuckerton PD as "Podunk" more times than I can count. The truth is, since Chris has been in a position of any kind of decision making power, that department has continuously improved in its functionality, uniformity, efficiency, and overall ability to serve the borough residents, period. His personnel file and training records speak for themselves.
So why am I writing this big long dissertation? Well, unfortunately Chris' leadership and ability to serve as chief of the department in the wake of Chief Caputo's retirement is suddenly and unjustly given to an officer with only 2 years at the rank of sergeant! Chris had been a supervisor for nearly 16 years! The very night before his interview for the chief position I found out our own PBA president had knowledge of the premeditated plotting to skip over him. Disgraceful. How can this happen? Well, unfortunately, favoritism, sex, scandal, nepotism, and small town politics comes into play here as it often does. Unfortunately I have to save all that for some follow up writing I've been working on and hope to get Gavin Rozzi in on once all of my times, dates, pictures, videos, diagram's and other pieces of evidence are in order . 😉. Stay tuned. It's going to be a real doozie! I hate to shake Tuckerton up with such drama but this has really backed me into a corner so it's all coming out. And there is a LOT! Chris doesn't deserve this kind of treatment. He's been nothing but a loyal employee for 18 years and he's sacrificed more than anyone can fathom for the borough of tuckerton. So, as his estranged wife, with absolutely nothing to gain from his promotion, I am prepared to fight fire with gasoline and watch those who would seek to hurt him go up in smokes.