A termination hearing that began Wednesday for a Joliet police lieutenant who is accused of misusing a license plate reader system will continue to another date but it’s yet not clear when.

The Joliet Board of Fire and Police Commissioners voted to go into closed session for a hearing on Joliet Police Chief Bill Evans’ charges against Lt. Jeremy Harrison.

Evans recommended Harrison for termination on Dec. 22 following an investigation by Joliet Inspector General Stephen DiNolfo.

The board will decide on whether to uphold Evans’ recommendation after hearing testimony from witnesses and arguments from attorneys.

The hearing lasted about four hours.

At about 5:04 p.m., a city staffer informed a small group of people who were there for Harrison that the board would not be going back to open session.

Oliver Soleiman, one of Harrison’s attorneys, said the closed hearing is still ongoing. He did not know the next date for the hearing but it might in another month.

Evans found Harrison had violated the department’s code of conduct and policies regarding the license plate reader systems, according to city records.

The charges against Harrison alleged he accessed the department’s license plate reader database known as Flock for the “personal purposes to track the location of a female officer,” according to records provided by Harrison’s attorneys with Michael D. Ettinger and Associates in Palos Heights.

The charges also alleged Harrison “entered false information” into the Flock system to conduct searches of the female officer’s license plate.

Soleiman said he believes Harrison’s termination was “wrongful” and chose to appeal to the Board of Fire and Police Commissioners.

Earlier this year, Soleiman told Shaw Local that Harrison’s attorneys are denying his conduct was “inappropriate” or “not allowed” in any way.

“We’re ready for war and we’re going to fight this tooth and nail,” Soleiman said.

Concerns about the misuse of license plate reader systems have been brought up by Sam Coffey, a candidate for the Joliet High School District 204 board.

Coffey referenced the Harrison case during public comment at a Jan. 6 Joliet City Council meeting.

“I’m not bringing that up to attack the department, I’m just saying it shows a basic truth that when surveillance tools are this powerful, policies alone can’t prevent the misuse and even trained professionals are susceptible to breaking community trust,” Coffey said at the meeting.

Harrison has been with the Joliet Police Department since 1999, and he had overseen the narcotics unit since January 2019.

Harrison’s personnel file provided by the city showed he received at least 30 awards for his work for the police department.

But Harrison is also a defendant in a federal wrongful death lawsuit filed in 2020 over the controversial in-custody death of Eric Lurry Jr., 37, who died from a fatal drug overdose after his arrest.

That case has reached a settlement, according to federal court records.

Harrison was also found to have violated departmental policy by firing a gun at a fleeing vehicle driven by a 15-year-old suspect, city records show.