Policing the police

Metro East officer Jerame Simmons Jr. was the first officer to lose his badge under a new discretionary decertification process after the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board alleged he didn’t have a valid high school diploma and lied about it on job applications at police departments.

But the full picture of the former East Carondelet police officer’s misconduct may be much darker than a lack of educational credentials. Two women, who will be referred to as Jane Doe #1 and Jane Doe #2 to protect their identities, said Simmons raped them on separate occasions and used his position to try to keep them from reporting the attacks to police.

“He hurts women that he knows he can control,” said Jane Doe #1. She reported to police that Simmons sexually assaulted her in October 2024.

The women alleged at the time Simmons assaulted them while he was employed as a part-time East Carondelet police officer.

Simmons, who declined to comment, was not charged in either sexual assault allegation.

The SAFE-T Act became law in 2021 with the goal of increasing police accountability measures. It required ILETSB, the state agency assigned with credentialing police officers in Illinois, to automatically decertify officers found guilty of a felony or specific misdemeanors. Sean Grayson, the former Sangamon County sheriff’s deputy, who shot and killed Sonya Massey in July 2024, was automatically decertified in 2025 after he was convicted of second-degree murder.

It also established that an officer could be subject to discretionary decertification if accused of misconduct through a complaint —–  which can be filed by anyone. After the complaint is submitted to ILETSB, it is then reviewed for credibility to determine whether further action is warranted, potentially kicking off a months-long process involving an administrative court, an ILETSB panel recommendation and final board approval.

“It is not uncommon for a complaint received to allege more than one type of misconduct or for the allegation to identify more than one officer within the single complaint,” the ILETSB annual report states.

The latest ILETSB annual report listed more than 200 complaints still under review for discretionary decertification, though the state agency received nearly 500 complaints in 2025. Those could include complaints for excessive force, tampering with evidence or video footage, or engaging in unethical, deceptive behavior that is “harmful to the public.”

ILETSB currently has 10 investigators reviewing reported misconduct and four attorneys who handle discretionary decertification proceedings and other legal matters. As of mid-October, the Board has filed five formal complaints for discretionary decertification, according to Christopher Grask, ILETSB’s public information officer.

“Under state law, allegations undergo a preliminary review to determine whether they meet the statutory criteria for discretionary decertification and warrant further investigation. Cases meeting those criteria are assigned for investigation, while matters involving ongoing criminal proceedings or internal affairs reviews are subject to mandatory administrative stays,” Grask added.

Advocacy lawyer Gerald Polanco, criminal legal system counsel at Impact for Equity, said ILETSB’s ability to use discretionary decertification is a powerful tool to remove officers accused of misconduct but there’s also potential wrongdoing not precisely covered by state law.

“There is this nebulous zone of conduct or allegations or charges that are concerning and could indicate, if true, something concerning about the officer’s ability to do their job without harming others and without taking advantage of their power – but it does not fall neatly within the grounds for discretionary decertification and it’s also not a case that can be automatically decertified,” he said.

Education and law enforcement career

Simmons comes from a politically connected family in St. Clair County.

Herb Simmons, his grandfather, is the longtime East Carondelet village president and former police chief who has been deputized by the FBI and U.S. Marshals Service to serve on special task forces. Herb Simmons currently serves as the director of the St. Clair County Emergency Management Agency, responsible for the emergency preparation and sits on the board of two of the most powerful regional government entities in the St. Louis area: Bi-State Development and the East-West Gateway Council of Governments.

Jerame Simmons, Jr. was hired as a part-time officer at the East Carondelet police department on July 18, 2023, then attended Southwestern Illinois College’s police academy and received his certification on Aug. 14, 2024.

After receiving his certification, Jerame Simmons was qualified to work at any police department in the state. In addition to his job at East Carondelet, he applied at the nearby Brooklyn, Dupo, Cahokia and Sauget police departments. Each time, he represented that he had a high school diploma from Dupo High School – which the police licensing board later said was untrue.

That became the basis for ILETSB for the first time to pursue discretionary decertification.

“We’re trying to prevent a situation that occurs when you have a job applicant, like the respondent, who wants to walk in the door of a police department via these job applications and become an Illinois police officer. … Is this the sort of individual that we want to let in the door when he’s already telling lies to get inside the door?” said Nicholas Kondelis, the board’s attorney, during an April decertification hearing held at ILETSB’s Springfield headquarters.

But Simmons’ attorney, Patrick Sullivan, contended it was all a mistake. Simmons withdrew from Dupo High School and pursued his education at home. When it came time for him to finish the course of homeschooling, his mother said she simply followed the advice of educators and downloaded a diploma.

The diploma complaint

It isn’t clear whether the complaint filed with ILETSB on Jan. 1, 2025, regarding Simmons contained any information about the sexual assault allegations or whether it focused solely on the diploma issue.

ILETSB did not provide a copy of the complaint requested by Capitol News Illinois and Illinois Times.

But what is clear is that Simmons was interviewed by ILETSB investigator Brent Shownes on April 2, 2025, at the Columbia Police Department in neighboring Monroe County, then immediately after was met by Illinois State Police investigators who questioned him about the sexual assault case, according to Simmons’ testimony at the decertification hearing.

The four-hour decertification hearing in April made no mention of the two, separate sexual assault allegations, sticking to the allegations about Simmons’ educational credentials. During that hearing, ILETSB attorneys scrutinized the diploma attached to each of his police officer applications, arguing it was illegitimate. The attorneys said that Simmons, who was 22 at the time he applied to various police departments, knew the diploma printed from homeschooldiploma.com was not valid.

Chrissy Simmons, Jerame’s mother, testified before the administrative court that the St. Clair County Regional Office of Education instructed her to access that website for a homeschool diploma.

“The first time was to get homeschooling requirements, and the second time was for the diploma,” she said. “They gave me a site that I could go to and print off of a diploma for him, and it was just for me and his father to sign. … It was very simple. I didn’t have to create an account. I literally could print any high school diploma that I wanted to and pay for it.”

An Illinois State Board of Education webpage about homeschooling explains that if a “student is being homeschooled, the student has no legal right to participate in public school graduation ceremonies or receive a diploma.”

Southern Illinois educators called to testify at the hearing took issue with the diploma listing Dupo Jr./Sr. High School as the institution graduating Jerame.

“Unfortunately, if someone is saying they graduated from our institution and did not, then it waters down the ability to set standards for educational services. If anybody can just write a diploma and say you graduated from there, then the rigor that we created wouldn’t exist,” said Keith Book, principal of Dupo Jr./Sr. High School since 2021.

Book testified that in his review of Simmons’ record, he found that Simmons, who received special education services under an individualized educational plan, transferred to Dupo then attended an alternative school, then came back to Dupo, and ultimately dropped out in early 2021.

Sullivan, Simmons’ lawyer, contended that he pursued homeschooling, which is largely unregulated in Illinois, and was not lying when applying to various police departments representing that he graduated in January from Dupo High School, but simply a young person following his parents’ direction.

“This is a 24-year-old kid now. Back then, he proceeded on full faith and belief that his parents had done their homework, as he had,” Sullivan said at the April hearing.

“He’s not making deceptive statements. He believes he has whatever is good enough to get him to be a cop. None of this is intentional or malicious … he believed he was a high school graduate through the homeschooling process.”

In closing arguments, Kondelis, one of the ILETSB lawyers trying the case, became angry in response to Sullivan repeatedly referring to Simmons as a “kid.”

“I counted, Judge, at least three times that the defense counsel referred to his client as a ‘kid.’ When is he going to be held responsible for his actions? He’s not a kid,” Kondelis said.

Sexual assault allegations

During the administrative hearing on April 27, there was no mention of allegations by two women that Simmons had sexually assaulted them, then threatened them using his police powers to keep them from talking. There was also no mention of a criminal investigation by Illinois State Police involving Simmons that ISP handed off to the St. Clair County State’s Attorney’s Office in July 2025.

Prosecutors declined to file criminal charges against Simmons, but would not comment on when that decision was made.

Two women filed requests in St. Clair County in early 2025 for orders of protection against Simmons, alleging he sexually assaulted them and threatened them into silence. Both allegations date back to 2024 when Simmons was working as a part-time East Carondelet police officer.

Capitol News Illinois and Illinois Times obtained copies of those petitions for the orders of protection. Both news organizations follow a standard editorial policy of not identifying sexual assault or abuse survivors in news reports unless the survivor gives explicit, informed consent to be publicly named. Both women asked to remain anonymous.

Simmons used his position to intimidate them into silence after the assaults, driving down the streets where they lived, coming into the places of their employment or parking his police cruiser in front of their homes, the women said.

Jane Doe #1 was involved in an intimate relationship with Simmons for a few months, she said. During an interview with Capitol News Illinois and Illinois Times, she said she rode in Simmons’ police car while he was working, including when there were detainees in the back seat. She was in the passenger seat during high-speed pursuits, she said. The relationship was exciting, she said.

In late October 2024 after a night of heavy drinking, Jane Doe #1 said Simmons took her home and she woke up later with injuries to her genitals. Angry, Jane demanded answers. Simmons denied assaulting her, she said.

Another woman, Jane Doe #2, alleged Simmons raped her two weeks earlier, according to the petitions.

In an interview, Jane Doe #2 alleged that after a night of drinking that she said included Simmons pulling a gun on a man during an argument outside a local bar, Simmons then picked up another woman and took them both back to his house. The other woman witnessed Simmons sexually assault Jane Doe #2 when she had been “in and out of consciousness,” according to a petition for an order of protection filed in St. Clair County Court.

Jane Doe #2 didn’t remember specifics and didn’t immediately go to the emergency room or report the incident.

The witness told her “not to tell anyone because Jerame is dangerous and she was scared for her safety,” the petition stated. She told Jane Doe #2, according to the petition, that Simmons captured the whole incident on video.

The woman said Simmons stopped her in his police cruiser and would not let her leave, then later parked his police car in front of her house.

In one of the court documents, Jane Doe #2 wrote in her petition that she received a text message from Simmons after she said he sexually assaulted her.

“All I am saying is I’m grown and I’m also a cop so if u wanna go around running your mouth, I will gladly get my attorney involved and they will send u a court date in the mail. Up to u.”

The witness to Jane Doe #2’s assault eventually told the woman’s father, a retired police officer who encouraged her to report the incident to the police.

After consulting with Illinois State Police, both women said they were advised to pursue a court order to keep Simmons away.

Both women asked for, but neither received, a two-year protective order.

“We aren’t safe,” said Jane Doe #1. “You don’t even know how scary this is. It’s like no one will listen to us.”

On April 3, 2025, St. Clair County Associate Judge Elaine LeChien denied Jane Doe #1’s request for an emergency order, finding that she failed to prove emergency relief was necessary.

A month later, after hiring an attorney, Jane Doe #1 again was denied a protective order, this time by St. Clair County Associate Judge Alana Mejias.

Jane Doe #2 also asked the court for an emergency order to keep Simmons away. Associate Judge Tom Cannady issued a temporary 14-day order, but despite an ongoing ISP investigation into the allegations, Associate Judge Maurché Belk denied the woman’s request for a two-year protective order on April 21, 2025.

The criminal investigation was turned over in July 2025 to the St. Clair County State’s Attorney’s Office. In response to an inquiry from Capitol News Illinois and Illinois Times, the State’s Attorney’s Office said the office had decided not to issue charges.

“The St. Clair County State’s Attorney’s Office has completed a thorough review of the application for criminal charges submitted by the Illinois State Police concerning Jerame Simmons Jr. After careful consideration of all the evidence presented, the application for charges has been declined,” Chris Allen, St. Clair County Assistant State’s Attorney and spokesperson for the office, wrote in an email in response to the news organizations’ inquiry.

“This decision was not made lightly. Our review included all materials gathered and reports prepared by the Illinois State Police in their investigation, and we consulted with the agency throughout the process.”

The two women said they had not been informed that criminal charges had been declined until a reporter called and told them.

“This decision is not a judgment on the experiences of anyone involved, nor does it diminish the seriousness of the events in question. It reflects our obligation to file charges only when we believe the evidence will support a conviction under the law. Out of respect for the privacy of those involved, we will not be commenting further at this time,” Allen wrote.

“I trusted police a lot before this happened,” Jane Doe #2 said. “They would have allowed him to carry a gun, stalk women. This is about ego and having power over women.”

ILETSB filed a formal complaint to decertify Simmons in January 2025.

His attorney, Sullivan, responded in court documents that he believed the push to strip Simmons of his police job was initiated by an accuser’s father – a charge the man denied during an interview with Capitol News Illinois and Illinois Times.

While the sexual assault allegations weren’t fully disclosed in the ILETSB hearings, Simmons testified about his meeting with ILETSB investigator Shownes on April 2, 2025, who questioned him about his high school diploma.

Simmons then testified that after Shownes questioned him, he was “bombarded” by Illinois State Police, who questioned him about an “unrelated” criminal matter.

“A different case. That has nothing to do with today. It’s an unrelevant (sic) criminal investigation, is what they were there for. Unrelated, sorry,” Simmons said.

According to a transcript obtained by Capitol News Illinois and Illinois Times, attorneys seemed blindsided by Simmons’ disclosure that he was questioned in a criminal investigation separate from the ILETSB investigation.

“I don’t know what he’s talking about. We haven’t discussed it. I don’t know if it’s relevant or not,” Sullivan told Administrative Law Judge Sarah Carlson during a sidebar in the hearing.

Kondelis, one of the ILETSB attorneys, pressed Carlson to allow him to follow up.

“I’ve got a right to ask him about if he’s saying he’s bombarded by the Illinois State Police at the same time he’s being interviewed by my investigator, I have no clue what the Illinois State Police involvement here is,” Kondelis said.

“Neither do I,” Sullivan said.

 It’s a family affair

Jerame Simmons, Jr. isn’t the first one in his family to face decertification.

His father, Jerame Simmons, spent nearly 24 years as a convicted arsonist until a gubernatorial pardon in May 2021 cleared his record. In news accounts, the elder Simmons pleaded guilty to charges that he tried to set fire to Dupo High School – the same high school where ILETSB attorneys would later say his son falsely claimed he got a diploma.

In protest over the senior Simmons’ ascension to fire chief at the Prairie du Pont Fire Department, 11 of Simmons’ fellow firefighters walked away from the department.

In addition to becoming fire chief, the senior Simmons joined the East Carondelet Police Department as a part-time officer in the tiny village of 390 people.

There was a question whether the pardon expressly restored Simmons’ right to carry a gun. After the controversy came to light, the elder Simmons no longer serves in the police department. The ILETSB website no longer lists Simmons as a certified police officer.

Simmons, Jr. joined his dad as a volunteer firefighter at the Prairie du Pont Fire Protection District. The younger Simmons, who testified he worked at a tarp company, left to join the police department.

Now, the first-of-its-kind decertification process for Simmons Jr. is complete after more than a year. After the April hearing, an administrative law judge found Simmons should be decertified. The board signed off on her ruling during a meeting in O’Fallon in September.

That prevents Simmons, Jr. from being a cop in Illinois, but he can try to get hired at other police departments out of state, though that may be tough, too.

“Notice of all decertifications are sent to the National Decertification Index maintained by the International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training. Therefore, decertification may affect an officer’s ability to obtain certification in another state depending on the other state’s laws and practices,” said Grask, ILETSB’s spokesperson.

And it may not be the end yet of Simmons’ police career. Simmons can appeal the decision to a circuit court in Sangamon or Cook County, as prescribed in the statute setting forth the procedure for discretionary certification. His lawyer said that he does plan to pursue an appeal.

To date, nothing has been filed.

“Imagine that Simmons didn’t have this high school diploma situation and was never investigated and no formal complaint was filed,” said Polanco, the advocacy nonprofit lawyer. “Would we know? Would he still be out there?”

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.