No Darien Police Staffing Concerns Because Of Store: Chief

DARIEN, IL — A Darien alderman asked the police chief this week whether the number of calls for retail theft at Walmart was affecting response to other crimes.

At Monday's City Council meeting, Alderman Tom Chlystek said he heard a concern that Darien police may delay their response to other calls when officers are at Walmart, 2189 75th St.

Police Chief Greg Thomas replied, "Should there be a concern about manpower because an officer is out on a theft report? The answer is no."

The police department, he said, does not base its staffing on one incident. Rather, its manpower depends on a number of factors — the season, the day of the week, the hour, among them, he said.

"There are three patrol districts within the city," Thomas said. "Each one of those patrol districts is manned to a couple deep."

Sometimes, the department delays its response to non-emergency calls while handling more pressing matters, the chief said.

Earlier this month, a Patch analysis showed that officers responded to Walmart 309 times since the beginning of the year — 1.8 percent of the department's 16,962 total calls for service. In other words, one of every 50 calls on average is for Walmart.

On average, the police department gets about 50 calls a day. That averages four or five calls during an officer's 12-hour shift. Some calls last minutes; others take hours.

Over the last month, the police have cited four or five people a week on retail theft charges at the store. Many of the suspects are accused of failing to scan items at the self-checkout aisle.