No Crime Wave In Burr Ridge: Officials

BURR RIDGE, IL — Despite a village trustee's comments to the contrary, Burr Ridge is not suffering a crime wave, officials said last week.

At a Village Board meeting, Police Chief John Madden presented statistics showing that Burr Ridge received 81 residential and commercial burglary reports from 2013 to 2018, compared with 86 in Oak Brook, 100 in Hinsdale and 167 in Darien, the chief said. Only Willowbrook had fewer, with 64. The chief got the numbers from the reports that departments submit to the FBI; 2019 statistics are not available yet.

So far in 2020, Burr Ridge has responded to six residential burglary calls. In two of the six cases, Madden said, detectives identified suspects. Charges are pending, as police await crime lab results, he said.

The others were ruse burglaries. Such a crime is when one person distracts the homeowner while another enters the house and commits theft. Burr Ridge police, along with other agencies, have identified the groups behind the ruse burglaries in the village and other towns, Madden said. Now they are determining which members of the groups are responsible, he said.

Burr Ridge also had fewer robberies than nearby towns — three from 2013 to 2018, compared with seven in Hinsdale, 12 in Oak Brook, 17 in Willowbrook and 18 in Darien, Madden said. The only robbery so far this year, he said, resulted in an arrest.

In 2019, 10 cars were stolen in Burr Ridge, all of which were unlocked with the key fobs inside, the chief said.

Madden said the police department works hard on crime prevention. Officers regularly look for open garage doors in the middle of the night, as evidenced by the department's regular media reports. So far this year, police have given 227 such notifications advising residents to close their garage doors.

In an opinion piece posted to Patch earlier this month, Trustee Zach Mottl asserted the village was undergoing a "crime wave."

Village officials disagreed.

"There is no crime wave in Burr Ridge," Mayor Gary Grasso said at the board meeting. "This is, as usual, a fabrication of Trustee Mottl, who throws out baseless and worthless allegations to demean the village he lives in and serves."

In response, Mottl said the police may be making the number of crimes appear smaller by the way they categorize them, but he provided no examples. He said he hears about crime concerns from his neighbors. "People don't feel safe," he said.

Trustees said they feel safe in the village.

"Except for Trustee Mottl's neighbors, I think everyone else's neighbors feel safe," Trustee Al Paveza said.

Trustee Tony Schiappa said he and his family feels safer when they enter Burr Ridge village limits. The other trustees made similar comments.

Also at the meeting, officials took issue with Mottl's suggestion in the opinion piece that local police may be behind some of the crimes in the village.