Library honors DuPage County's first black officer

After serving his country, William Simmons came home and again risked his life, this time fighting a war on local streets against drugs and gangs.

As part of its sesquicentennial celebration, the Wheaton Public Library is honoring the proud career of DuPage County's first black police officer and chief who retired earlier this summer after making history.

The library is featuring an exhibit highlighting Simmons' 40-year law enforcement career. It's on display for two months, beginning this weekend.

"It's overwhelming," the 65-year-old Wheaton man said. "It's something my grandchildren and other young people can see and realize the American dream is alive. You just have to reach for it."

Simmons, raised by a single mother on Aurora's east side, wanted to be a police officer since he was 12. In 1968, after seeing battle in Vietnam, he returned home and soon became a DuPage County deputy sheriff.

It wasn't easy. Many fellow officers refused to ride with him or back him up on calls. He often endured racial slurs and other bigotry.

But, during the next four decades, Simmons said he realized the significance of his role in history. He refused to allow racial barriers to stop him and, in doing so, cleared a path that allowed many others to follow.

His wife, Sandria Simmons, said their daughter, Yvonne, came up with the idea of an exhibit after visiting her library in Atlanta, Ga. She noticed a similar display featuring local folks' careers.

The Simmons family got to work on organizing their exhibit.

"He's very humble," Sandria Simmons said of her husband. "He's someone who came from meager circumstances and accomplished a lot. He's come a long way with God's help."

Decades ago, he helped form the county's first drug task force. He used his ethnicity and street smarts to work undercover. Driving a junkie car, he bought drugs in undercover stings and even posed as a Black Panther.

To bust drug sales in local businesses, Simmons posed as a restaurant cook and a janitor at a factory. Despite death threats to himself and his family, Simmons was never seriously injured. The staunch Christian attributes that to God.

Simmons left the sheriff's office in 1998, after DuPage State's Attorney Joe Birkett named him his criminal investigation's chief. Simmons retired in June from commanding nearly 20 investigators.

The library exhibit features many of his early photos, badges, awards, a uniform, newspaper clippings and a narrative about his career.

"He's had quite a nice career," said Sarah Meisels, library director. "We thought it would make a great exhibit."

Simmons also served on several leadership boards, including for the Koinonia House, a post-prison ministry based in Wheaton. His activism earned him several distinguished awards, including from the NAACP and Illinois State Bar Association.

After the exhibit comes down, Sandria Simmons said the family plans to put together a book of her husband's accomplishments to give to the library as a permanent gift.

The Wheaton Public Library is located at 225 N. Cross St., just north of downtown. The exhibit will run through October.