Here's When Darien Cops Can't Release Info

DARIEN, IL – Darien's police chief said this week his department would release information when it can. But in some situations, he said, it could not.

During a City Council meeting, Chief Greg Thomas spoke about a number of recent calls from residents to aldermen.

In one case last month, a resident told an elected official that the police were not being open about an incident at Beller Road and Beller Court.

But Thomas said the police department, in fact, had tweeted that police and firefighters responded to a house in that neighborhood. The message said there was no threat to the public.

"The caller felt that she should have more information," Thomas said. "The problem is, in some of these situations like this one, it involved a medical emergency and we're not going to discuss medical emergencies and what goes on in a person's private life for the most part."

He said if a threat to the public existed, the police would call for a soft or hard lockdown or evacuation.

In another recent situation, the chief said, a woman was asked to remain in her house.

"She was insistent on knowing what was going on at the time the incident was evolving. That's not the time to engage with police," he said. "We'll release information that's allowed."

In another recent instance, a resident asked an alderman about a fatal motorcycle crash on 75th Street.

"There was an accident in Downers Grove on 75th Street, but not ours and not a fatal," Thomas said.

Thomas also brought up an incident early in his career in the 1980s. He and another officer were making a felony stop of two armed robbers.

The officers' guns were drawn when a woman walked up to them and asked whether they were filming a movie.

"That's not the time to engage with police," he said.