Former City Employee Allegedly Charged With Impersonating Police

By Anna Deem in News on Sep 27, 2009 8:30PM

Valerie Booker, 38, of the 8800 block of South Loomis Street, was charged on Thursday with false impersonation of a police officer and misdemeanor name use, after she allegedly threatened her son's 15-year-old classmate near Mount Carmel High School, according to police news Affairs Officer JoAnn Taylor. The twist? Booker may be a former City of Chicago employee.

A police report stated that Booker was carrying a City of Chicago identification card and records also indicate that a Valerie D. Booker once worked as a traffic control aide for the Office of Emergency Management and Communication. Sources to the Chicago Sun-Times also reveal that she may have been a former part-time city traffic control aid.

The incident on Thursday afternoon between Booker and her son's classmate stemmed from an argument on Wednesday between her son and the classmate. Allegedly, Booker told the classmate to leave her son alone and threatened him by saying "I'm the police" according to Taylor. Even as she was taken into custody, Booker informed police that she was an officer, although a further investigation proved that not to be true. Judge Peggy Chiampas set Booker's bond at $50,000 on Friday, according to Cook County State's Attorney's office spokeswoman, Tandra Simonton. Booker's preliminary hearing is scheduled for Oct. 1 in Far South Felony Court.