Mayor to appoint Interim Chief Jeff Hamer to fill Macomb Chief position

Macomb Mayor Michael Inman announced Friday (7/28/23) that he will appoint Interim
Macomb Police Chief Jeffrey Hamer to fill the Police Chief position on a permanent basis. Chief
Hamer will succeed Jerel Jones who left the position, earlier this year, for a position as Chief in
suburban Flossmoor, Il. Inman will seek the concurrence of the Macomb City Council, at its
Monday August 7, 2023, meeting, to hire Hamer as the City’s new Chief of Police.
Chief Hamer is a 22-year veteran of the Macomb Police Department (MPD) and has served
many roles within MPD. Hamer has been a Field Training Officer (FTO), Verbal Judo Instructor
and he has been very active in implementation of technology in the Department, throughout his
career. Hamer was initially promoted to Sergeant where he supervised dayshift patrol activities.
Hamer was subsequently promoted to Lieutenant, where he supervised patrol officers and
functioned as the Tactical Commander for the multi-agency Strategic Response Team (SRT).
Chief Hamer has played a vital role in getting the MPD fully accredited, while acting as the
ILEAP Accreditation manager for the Department. He served as the Body Worn Camera
administrator for the past two years and assisted in officer training, rolling out the program, and
oversight of the project. Hamer most recently served as the Administrative Lieutenant as well as
Operations Commander prior to assuming the Interim Chief role. Hamer also served for 3 years
as a Corrections Officer with the McDonough County Sheriff’s Department prior to joining
MPD.
Chief Hamer holds a Bachelor of Science (BS) degree in Law Enforcement and Justice
Administration from Western Illinois University (WIU) as well as a Master’s degree in
organizational leadership from Lewis University. Hamer is a graduate of the Northwestern
University School of Police Staff and Command (323rd). He is a member of the Illinois
Association of Chief’s of Police, a big brother to Luke through Big Brothers Big Sisters and he is
very active in several community, civic and non-for-profit organizations, in Macomb.