New York State Police (NYSP)

By Michael Mashburn From Daily Voice

A former New York State Police trooper claims she was unjustly fired after a botched drug test — and targeted in part for being a woman.

Jamie Kasper, a decorated Army combat veteran and eight-year State Police officer based in the Hudson Valley, says she was punished for a positive drug test caused by a contaminated dietary supplement — even after two follow-up tests came back negative.

In a lawsuit filed in Albany County Supreme Court on Thursday, May 22, Kasper alleges the New York State Police “manipulated due process and disregarded their own internal policies” by relying on an unauthorized testing method and secretly retesting her original urine sample in violation of a mutual agreement.

“The facts are clear that in this case, State Police leaders manipulated due process and disregarded their own internal policies to take vindictive and targeted actions against a veteran, mother, and dedicated public servant,” Charles Murphy, president of the New York State Troopers Police Benevolent Association, said in a statement provided to Daily Voice. The PBA filed the lawsuit on Kasper’s behalf.

According to the complaint, Kasper tested positive for amphetamines in January 2024 during a random drug screening. But that test used a method not approved under the State Police’s own rules, which require confirmation by a different method, according to the lawsuit.

After raising the issue during an August 2024 disciplinary hearing, both sides agreed to pause the case while the agency considered withdrawing the charges. That pause, Kasper says, was granted under a shared agreement: no further testing would occur.

But NYSP violated that agreement, retesting her original sample in secret using the proper method — and then introducing that result when the hearing resumed in January 2025. She was fired the following month.

Kasper’s legal team calls it a clear breach: “The State Police broke their own rules, ignored their own agreement, and deliberately denied Trooper Kasper the fair hearing that she not only deserved but was entitled to,” Murphy said.

Making matters worse, the lawsuit alleges the agency treated a male trooper far differently in a nearly identical case. In 2019, a senior investigator tested positive for a banned substance also linked to a supplement — but was never disciplined, according to the complaint.

Kasper, meanwhile, was terminated and placed on the state’s decertification list, permanently banning her from serving in law enforcement in New York.

“I worked hard for nearly two decades to prove I could do the job,” Kasper said in a statement provided to Daily Voice. “All I’m asking for is fair, equal treatment and to return to the work that I love — protecting and serving the people of New York.”

She is now seeking reinstatement, back pay, and the restoration of her police certification.

The case has also raised concerns about gender bias within the State Police, despite public commitments by Gov. Kathy Hochul to “improve the experiences of women in law enforcement.”

“This flies in the face of the high standards New Yorkers rightfully expect our agency to uphold,” Murphy said. “At a time when we face serious recruitment and retention challenges, the treatment of Trooper Kasper sends the absolute wrong message to individuals whose service this state desperately needs.”

In a statement to Daily Voice, New York State Police said Kasper tested positive for a controlled, banned substance "using both of the leading confirmatory testing methods" and was fired after an administrative investigation.

"Her allegations of gender bias have no basis in fact and we look forward to answering this complaint in court," said Beau Duffy, NYSP's executive director of public information.