Jeremy Harrison

Introduction

Jeremy Harrison, a 50-year-old former Joliet, Illinois police lieutenant from Plainfield, was indicted on felony charges of computer tampering and official misconduct after Illinois State Police say he misused the police department’s Flock license-plate-reader system for personal purposes — including, per the indictment, entering data about a woman’s vehicle and running more than one hundred searches of her license plates with “no legitimate basis.” The indictment, filed in Will County on Tuesday, October 6, 2026, and announced by state police the next day, caps a process that began with a complaint from Joliet’s city inspector general in 2025 and already cost Harrison his job: the police chief had recommended his termination after a city investigation into the Flock misuse. His attorney called the charges “frivolous.”

Background Information

Harrison served as a lieutenant with the Joliet Police Department, southwest of Chicago. The investigation began after the Joliet City Inspector General requested a probe in 2025, alleging Harrison was using the Flock automated license-plate-reader system for his personal benefit; Illinois State Police’s Division of Criminal Investigation Zone 1 handled the case and presented results to a Will County grand jury. Retired Joliet Police Chief Bill Evans had earlier recommended Harrison for termination after a city investigation alleged he misused the technology for “personal purposes to track the location of a female officer,” according to city records cited in local coverage. Harrison denied the allegations against him throughout the departmental proceedings.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Indicted, not tried. Harrison faces two Class 3 felony counts; he has not gone to trial, denies the allegations, and is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

The indictment alleges Harrison accessed the Joliet Police Department’s Flock Safety program and entered data regarding a woman’s vehicle — reporting the vehicle to be wanted, stolen, or being driven recklessly — and then conducted “more than one hundred searches” of the woman’s license plates on the system when there was “no legitimate basis for him to make those entries or conduct those searches,” according to court records. State police said the Will County grand jury approved charges of computer tampering and official misconduct, both Class 3 felonies in Illinois. Harrison’s attorney, Oliver Soleiman, rejected the case outright: the charges are “frivolous,” he said. “We’re looking forward to taking them head on, and we frankly are going to beat them.” Soleiman said he would be “frankly floored if this went to trial with the way these charges are stated,” and noted he did not think it was a coincidence that the charges were filed the same day Harrison’s legal team demanded proof of whether the police board had consented to move his termination case to federal court. Special Prosecutor Bill Elward is assigned to the criminal case.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The indictment made regional and national law-enforcement news as part of a wave of Flock-misuse prosecutions around the country — CBS Chicago’s coverage grouped it with charges against officers in Waukegan, Park City, and Georgia over improper database and camera use, and ABC7 tied it to broader reporting on Illinois’ “troubling legal gap” in holding officers accountable for Flock misuse. Joliet itself remained under scrutiny: in early September 2026, two other Joliet officers were put on administrative leave amid separate allegations of misusing Flock technology, with that investigation referred to the city inspector general and Illinois State Police. Harrison’s parallel civil fight continued as well — his attorneys pursued a Will County lawsuit contending they were denied access to the “underlying source” audio recording of his May 13, 2026 termination hearing before the Joliet Board of Fire and Police Commissioners, while the city sought to move that case to federal court.

Current Status

Harrison faces the two Class 3 felony counts in Will County; his first court date had not been announced by state police as of the October 7, 2026 announcements. He is no longer employed by the Joliet Police Department, though state police did not specify when his employment ended, and the termination-hearing litigation over the recording of the proceedings remains active. The criminal charges are accusations; no trial has occurred and no conviction has been entered.

Impact on Their Career/Life

A police lieutenant who spent years rising through the Joliet department ends the story indicted on two felonies, out of the department after a termination fight that included closed-session hearings and a discovery lawsuit over the hearing’s audio, and facing a special prosecutor assigned specifically to his case. The alleged conduct — more than one hundred plate-reader searches of one woman’s vehicle, with false status entries, according to the indictment — has become a named example in the ongoing national argument over license-plate-reader surveillance and the accountability gap for officers who abuse it.

Sources

• Shaw Local / The Herald-News, “Joliet police lieutenant charged with felony computer tampering of Flock Safety program,” Oct 7, 2026 — source
• CBS Chicago, “Former Joliet police lieutenant Jeremy Harrison charged with felonies for misusing Flock system,” Oct 7, 2026 — source
• ABC7 Chicago, “Former Joliet police lieutenant facing felony charges after investigation into Flock misuse: ISP,” Oct 7, 2026 — source