Darien Crime Rate Falling: Cops

DARIEN, IL — The home invasion in Darien this week prompted some social media users to call for residents to be on guard against crime. One woman wrote on Darien Patch's Facebook page, "The amount of violent crime in Darien is appalling." But the Darien Police Department says otherwise.

A graph on Darien's website shows major crimes reported to the FBI have fallen in half to 150 in 2018, from 360 five years earlier.

Since taking the helm four years ago, Police Chief Greg Thomas said his department has responded to fewer major crimes, which include everything from murder and robbery to burglary and arson.

In those four years, the department has responded to three shootings, none of which were randomly targeted, the chief said. Tuesday's home invasion was the first that Thomas said his department has handled since he started as chief.

"We got the years worth of data to demonstrate that crime has gone down significantly, and it has for a while," Thomas said in an interview.

The home invasion that happened on 1100 Belair Drive was "very rare" in Darien, he said. The incident happened on a leafy street with two-story homes mostly valued at more than $300,000. It took place at 10 a.m. Tuesday.

According to police, a woman in her 20s heard someone knocking on her door. When she looked out, she saw several people wearing construction-type vests. Police said the woman then called her mother to check if she was expecting anyone. At that time, several masked people entered the house through a door that might have been unlocked and then held the woman at gunpoint.

The woman's mother, who was unaware of what was happening, called neighbors, who went to check on the woman, police said. When the neighbors rang the doorbell, the woman was ordered to answer the door and tell the neighbors everything was fine.

However, one of the neighbors noticed someone in the background holding a gun, so the neighbor pulled the woman out of the house and ran back to the neighbor's house, police said.

Darien Police issued a description of the suspects, and two people were detained by Woodridge Police. The two were brought to the Darien Police Department, and a K9 unit searched the area, finding gloves, items of clothing and a handgun nearby, according to police. The two people were later released.

Police said the home invasion appeared to be an isolated incident and that there was "no further related danger" to the community.

Anyone with information or video in connection with the case is urged to call Darien Police detectives at 630-971-3999.