Fired Flossmoor police chief files federal lawsuit alleging racial discrimination
FLOSSMOOR, Ill. — The former police chief in Flossmoor is now suing the village for racial discrimination after he was fired last week.
We learned back in October, a former police chief complained to the mayor he felt he was being treated unfairly by the village manager.
Flossmoor mayor releases letter on latest on police chief
Former chief Jerel Jones said after that, he faced retaliation he felt ultimately led to his firing.
“Some of the tenets of the Flossmore PD are fair and equal treatment, promote unity and encourage respect,” Jones said. “These all all principles I have strived to lead by every day but unfourtanetly didn’t experience these as a member of the village leadership team.”
Jones was sworn in as the first Black police chief last March.
Jones is now suing the village and the village manager in federal court after his termination late last week.
The mayor said Jones’ firing was performance-based, due to what she called serious operational and administrative lapses under his watch.
Jones’ attorney allege it was race-based.
“The suit highlights a pattern of racially discriminatory behavior by the village manager that created an environment in which no one could succeed,” Bob Fioretti with the Disparti Law Group said.
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The lawsuit contains excerpts from the village manager’s performance reviews where she criticized Jones’ manner of speech saying he “speak plainly or answer questions directly” and that spoke too long at a committee meeting, “failing to follow simple instruction to be brief.”
In an another section, she said Jones “did not listen to management’s direction” when he reached out to the school district inquiring about security cameras.
“A full reading of those memos doesn’t show one iota of failing in law enforcement duties, rather it shows the kinds of race-based, hypercritical mirco managerial criticisms I outlined before,” attorney Cass Casper said.
Jones, a 17-year law enforcement veteran, served as chief of the Macomb Police Department before moving to Flossmoor.
Other Black police chiefs have stepped in to support him.
“It is very alarming that in a matter or months, the administration determined Chief Jerel Jones made ‘serious lapses in performance’ that rose to the level of severing his relationship with the community,” Mitchell Davis, chief of the Hazel Crest Police Department, said. “It appears to us members of the Flossmoor community share these concerns with us.”
Davis is a member of NOBLE, the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, which is supporting Jones.
Attorneys are asking for a public apology, Jones’ reinstatement as chief, backpay and that village officials undergo racial sensitivity training.
They are also asking for the village to release all memos related to his job performance.
Jones said he is willing to drop the lawsuit if the village publicly apologizes and reinstates him.
WGN-TV has reached out to the Village of Flossmoor for a comment.
You can read the full lawsuit below.
Complaint-Jones-v.-Flossmoor-file-stampedDownload
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