A former North Bergen police officer has filed a discrimination lawsuit claiming a department detective called him a “camel jockey,” a “sand n*****,” and a terrorist almost daily, and that the township did nothing meaningful about it for more than a year. Rasheed Siyam, who was fired from the force in 2025, alleges in the 20-page suit that Det. Frank Mena routinely mocked his religion and directed discriminatory comments at his ethnicity, ancestry, national origin and religion.
The lawsuit, filed in Hudson County Superior Court on behalf of Siyam by attorney Patrick Toscano, was first reported by Hudson County View. According to the suit, Mena told Siyam that his “people or kind” were responsible for the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and called him a terrorist outright. Siyam reported Mena's conduct through a written memorandum and later filed a tort claim with the township, the suit states.
Complaints Sustained, But Little Changed, Suit Claims
Both the North Bergen Police Department's Internal Affairs Unit and outside counsel investigated the discrimination allegations, and charges concerning Mena's conduct were sustained by no later than August 2024, according to the lawsuit. Despite that finding, the suit alleges the Township of North Bergen did not impose meaningful discipline or corrective measures for more than a year, and that the township continued to employ Mena without consequences tied to the religious-based harassment.
Siyam claims he began experiencing materially adverse treatment starting October 11, 2024, and that he had three assignment changes within roughly two weeks. He was removed from the department's Community Relations Unit, while Mena was removed from the Traffic Unit/SRO office, according to the suit. Siyam alleges that both Chief Robert Farley Jr. and Deputy Chief David Corbisiero approved all three of his assignment changes.
Chief Allegedly Told Him to Go Ahead and Sue
The suit further alleges that when Siyam requested a meeting to address Mena's conduct, Farley denied the request. Farley is quoted in the suit as telling Siyam, “If Rasheed wants to sue, tell him to go ahead and sue; he won't be the first or the last.” Siyam is seeking compensatory and consequential damages, statutory attorneys' fees and costs, pre- and post-judgment interest, and other relief the court deems just and equitable.
Siyam was sworn in as a full-time North Bergen officer in December 2023 after previously serving as a Special Law Enforcement Officer within the department, according to Hudson County View. He was one of five current or former North Bergen officers who had accused Farley of misconduct, and the lawsuit notes he is the first from that group to sue the township.
Criminal Charge and Firing Followed Complaints
Siyam's legal troubles with the department escalated well beyond the harassment claims. He was criminally charged and fired in 2025 after the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office accused him of spending 130 hours at home while on duty. The prosecutor's office charged him with third-degree theft by deception under N.J.S.A. 2C:20-4a, alleging he remained at home for more than 130 hours while on duty between November 2024 and May 2025, with the unearned hours averaging about 18.5 hours per month, per the same account.
Siyam was suspended for 56 days over the on-duty absence and separately suspended for 10 days for allowing a prisoner to be incarcerated without proper medical clearance, for a combined 66 days of suspension. A New Jersey Attorney General's Office report detailed that the 10-day suspension stemmed from a May 23, 2025 incident at Jersey City Medical Center, where Siyam failed to notify dispatch or supervisors after learning a prisoner had been medically cleared, gave false statements to a relieving officer, and was found to have committed insubordination by refusing an ordered internal affairs interview.
Following his September 2025 arrest, Siyam's attorney at the time, Patrick Toscano, publicly asserted the criminal charge was “retaliatory in nature,” pointing out that Siyam was among five officers who had previously notified the township of intent to sue Farley, as reported by Jersey City Patch. Toscano emphasized that the timing of the criminal case closely followed the officers' formal misconduct notices.
Broader Pattern of Allegations Against Chief Farley
The lawsuit lands against the backdrop of a bruising year for the North Bergen Police Department's leadership. In March 2025, Siyam and four other officers filed tort claim notices accusing Farley of severe workplace misconduct, including defecating on department floors, spiking office coffee with Viagra and Adderall, shaving body hair onto desks, and poking an officer with a needle, according to CBS News. The five officers sought a financial settlement and Farley's replacement.
North Bergen municipal officials responded at the time by calling the allegations against Farley “false and outrageous,” describing them as retaliation from officers unhappy over overtime cutbacks, and said the matter would be referred to state law enforcement, according to The Guardian. Township officials maintained confidence in Farley, who had assumed command of the department in February 2024, roughly a year before the tort claims surfaced.
Department Culture Under Continued Scrutiny
The Siyam lawsuit is not the department's only recent brush with allegations of bias. In March, an internal departmental investigation resulted in the suspensions of two North Bergen police lieutenants after they were found to have used racial slurs targeting Black individuals in videos and group chat messages, per Hudson County View's earlier report. The suspensions coincided with ongoing scrutiny of the department's culture more broadly.
Under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, state law prohibits employment bias and harassment based on religion, race, ethnicity or national origin, and explicitly bars employers from retaliating against employees who report or oppose unlawful conduct, per the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. The statute also allows individual supervisors who actively participate in or aid and abet workplace harassment to be named directly in civil lawsuits and held personally liable for damages. According to the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General's Division on Civil Rights, every person in New Jersey, regardless of primary language, is protected from discrimination and bias-based harassment under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination.
Phil Swibinski, a spokesperson, did not return a request for comment, according to Hudson County View's reporting. The article was written by John Heinis for Hudson County View.
