March 25, 2020
By Lea Torppey
Webmaster
Female students from the junior class gathered in the media center on March 9 to hear a presentation by Union City Chief of Police Nichelle Luster. In 2018, Luster became the first chief of police in Hudson County history. Her visit to LHS coincided with National Women’s History Month.
Luster was born and raised in San Diego, Calif. At the age of 18, she enlisted in the United States Army as an active duty military officer, making a four-year commitment. She went through training in Fort McClellan, Ala., which she described as a culture shock due to the amount of racism and prejudice she witnessed.
Luster was first stationed in Fischbach, Germany on a nuclear weapon site.
“I was in for the first Gulf War,” Luster said. “We had a lot of preparation that we needed to do because potentially, at that point in time, there was a possibility that we were going to use some of the items that we were protecting.”
After serving two years in Germany, Luster went to Fort Lee, Va. and then got deployed to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
“I was in Guantanamo Bay for the Haitian Refugee Crisis,” Luster said. “These were people that were trying to come into the United States by boat and had been stopped by the United States government and were being housed on Guantanamo Bay.”
Luster said there was a 50/50 split between the kinds of people living there.
“There were hardworking people looking for an opportunity to get into the United States and make a better life for themselves and their family,” Luster said. “The other half were either fleeing Haiti as criminals, or they had already been deported from the United States as criminals and were trying to get back there.”
Luster said she was on a peacekeeping mission, which meant she had to make sure everybody there was safe and receiving medical treatment. However, she said the environment was far from peaceful.
“At this point in time, it was the height of the HIV/AIDS crisis, so there were a lot of unhappy people in a confined space,” Luster said. “There were riots, fires and violence.”
After Luster returned to Fort Lee, Va., she made the decision to seek employment in Union City, N.J. because somebody she had been stationed with in Germany was from there. She said she knew she wanted to get back into law enforcement but did not know how to do so.
“I thought that ‘Oh, I’m a veteran. I’m going to come here, and somebody’s going to say I’m hired because I have a great skillset,’ but it doesn’t work like that,” Luster said. “You have to go through a testing process, there’s civil service components and sometimes it can take three to four years to get hired.”
Luster said after getting certified as an emergency medical technician, she started volunteering for the Emergency Medical Services in Union City. Meanwhile, she had a paying job in Jersey City, N.J.
“I got a lot of experience both in medical transports and the aftermath of violence,” Luster said.
When Luster was finally offered a job with the Union City Police Department, she became the fourth female to be hired there. She said early on, she faced discrimination from a few male colleagues.
“I was called ‘Girly,’ ‘Miss America’ and ‘Blondie,’” Luster said. “It was a tough environment.”
In 1999, Luster took a break from her role in the Union City Police Department and began working for the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office.
“For five years, I did homicide and death investigations throughout the entire Hudson County,” Luster said. “I spent a lot of time in Jersey City dealing with murders and suicides. As difficult [of] an assignment [as] it was, it was the highlight of my career.”
“You have to go through a testing process, there’s civil service components and sometimes it can take three to four years to get hired.”
Luster said her position gave her the opportunity to work on various cases. In fact, her team handled them from start to finish.
“We would process and photograph the scene. We would do an autopsy, call a post-mortem examination and collect evidence from the body,” Luster said.
She said she found it fascinating to collect evidence and talk to suspects.
“To sit in a room with somebody, whether it’s for three hours or 13 hours and actually have somebody admit to you ‘I did it’ grants everybody satisfaction and justice,” Luster said. “This is more of an interaction and a psychological dialogue. To be able to do that is amazing.”
In 2004, Luster returned to the Union City Police Department, where she was promoted to sergeant. Her responsibilities included supervising, coordinating and guiding the other officers. Subsequently, she was promoted to lieutenant and became head of the detective division. She was certified with the FBI as a crisis negotiator. Then, in 2013, Luster became the first female captain in the history of the Union City Police Department.
In 2018, Luster was promoted to her current position, becoming the first female chief in Hudson County.
“Policing has been such a male-dominating field for so long that it took a while for us to be able to filter through the ranks,” Luster said. “For nine years, I was the only female supervisor, and now I am one of four.”
Junior Ashleigh Panella said she respects Luster because of how hard she worked throughout her life.
“I want to be a mortician and deal with autopsies when I’m older,” Panella said. “It’s so amazing seeing the whole anatomy of it. Chief Luster inspired me to follow my dream.”
She said Luster has been through a lot in her life and deserves her role as chief of police.
“Chief Luster never had a break. She was always working hard her entire life since she was 18,” Panella said.
Junior Jennifer Kelly said she would like to see more women working in law enforcement.
“It’s crucial,” Kelly said. “With sexual assault and harassment cases, victims might feel more comfortable talking to women.”
Kelly said women have made a positive impact on the profession.
“Women are known to have more creative and verbal skills, making them ideal for the job,” Kelly said.
Junior Dynet Sulimani said as a member of the Bergen County Youth Police Academy, most of her peers were male cadets.
“There were only four females,” Sulimani said. “We were pulled aside to a room and talked about how for females, it’s harder when going into law enforcement because we have to work twice as hard as men to earn respect in that field.”
Sulimani said it is sad that females have been underestimated for so long.
“To this day, we still have to fight for equal rights in society, and I think that if we just keep on pushing, one day we will reach a time where we will eventually be treated equally,” Sulimani said.
Luster said although it may sound corny, she believes all women have the power to reach whatever goals they set out to achieve.
“You can do anything,” Luster said. “There’s no limit to what you’re capable of, and you shouldn’t let anything hold you back.”
