High-ranking Chicago cop faces suspensions for disparaging gays, leaking kids' records to deputy mayor

Investigators have found that a high-ranking Chicago police official should be suspended in two separate disciplinary cases — one focusing on inflammatory comments he made about Palestinians’ treatment of gay people and another hinging on the improper disclosure of juvenile criminal records to a top mayoral aide.

In each case, the Chicago Police Department’s Bureau of Internal Affairs has recommended that Area 1 Deputy Chief Don Jerome should be suspended for 28 days.

Meanwhile, Jerome has remained on active duty in a highly visible position as police officials determine his fate. "The disciplinary process is being finalized," said a police spokesperson, who declined further comment.

The first disciplinary case centers on a March 21 incident at City Hall, where Jerome “disseminated a list containing juvenile records” to one of the city’s deputy mayors, according to a summary report of the probe.

Internal investigators found that he violated rules that bar cops from improperly handling or releasing records, disobeying an order or directive, and discrediting the department.

Erin Connelly, a spokesperson for Mayor Brandon Johnson, declined to comment.

Months later — as scores of demonstrators gathered to protest the war in Gaza during the Democratic National Convention — a Palestinian American sergeant accused Jerome of making a series of offensive statements about the ongoing conflict and the treatment of gay people in the Middle East.

In a complaint, the sergeant described Jerome’s comments as “offensive, misogynistic, homophobic, and racist,” adding that he feared retaliation.

Jerome, the sergeant and more than a dozen other officials had gathered Aug. 20 at the Deering District police station, where Jerome began joking about an earlier protest that brought together advocates for LGBTQ+ and Palestinian rights, according to the complaint.

“If those LGBTQ protesters were in Palestine, those Muslims would behead them for being gay,” Jerome said.

Investigators determined Jerome “made an offensive derogatory statement regarding LGBTQ protesters,” according to a summary report. The investigation found he was disrespectful, failed to promote the department’s policies or goals, discredited the department and violated a law or ordinance.

An allegation that Jerome threatened retaliation by allegedly saying “I will remember your name” wasn’t sustained. Neither was an allegation that Jerome harassed the sergeant by pointing at the sergeant and repeatedly asking, “Who beheads gay people?”

The sergeant’s attorney, former CPD General Counsel Thomas Needham, said his client “is appreciative of the prompt attention and swift conclusion to his complaint,” adding that Jerome’s “rhetoric and behavior contradicts the values and mission of the Chicago Police Department and further erodes public trust.

“Deputy Chief Jerome remains in his current position which involves frequently addressing the media and continues to oversee hundreds of officers of all races, ethnic groups, and religions under his command serving Chicago's diverse communities,” Needham added. “Hopefully [Supt. Larry Snelling] will take the appropriate measures to resolve and finalize the matter satisfactorily.

“There cannot be a different standard for the command staff than there is for the rest of the officers in the Department," he said, noting that Snelling and Mayor Johnson "should take a hard look at whether deputy chief Jerome deserves the public's trust to continue to hold his current position.”

Jerome previously faced an unsustained complaint related to a pro-Palestinian protest in January in which he allegedly damaged someone’s camera. Ahmed Rehab, executive director of the Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, insisted that Jerome’s background includes “anti-Muslim, anti-Palestinian animus.”

“Unless he recants and apologizes, or is disciplined, our communities will not feel safe with him wielding police authority,” Rehab told the Sun-Times.

Jerome has faced dozens of complaints since joining the police department in 1994, a handful of which were sustained, according to a database maintained by the Invisible Institute, an independent newsroom focused on police accountability.

Most notably, Jerome was suspended for 28 days for his role in the cover-up of then-Supt. Eddie Johnson’s drunken driving incident in 2019. At the time, Jerome was the commander of the Deering District, where the top cop was found slumped over in his police SUV after dismissing his driver and trying to drive home.

Responding officers failed to administer a sobriety test, giving Eddie Johnson a police escort home while watching him violate traffic laws. He was ultimately fired amid the scandal.