Chicago Sun-Times: High-ranking Chicago cop faces suspensions for disparaging remarks

Area 1 Deputy Chief Don Jerome faces suspensions in two pending disciplinary cases led by the Chicago Police Department’s Bureau of Internal Affairs.

Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times file

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.