Snow can be a police officer's best friend

Every winter, it seems, we read about some punk who burglarized somebody's house only to be betrayed by his own footsteps in the snow.

That's no accident, police say.

A fresh layer of snow on the ground might be a pain for most of us. But to police investigators, it's potential evidence that can be key to solving a case.

"Snow gives us a different dynamic," Kane County Sheriff's Lt. Pat Gengler said last Friday morning as a steady snow fell. "It gives us a different tool, which we wouldn't have otherwise."

A big part of being a police officer, obviously, is being aware of your surroundings - even snow on the ground.

If an investigator sees a set of footprints leading to a broken window but none leading out, there's a good chance a burglar might be lurking inside. If a set leads somewhere, it's often to the suspect.

According to Gengler, police can make scientific impressions of footprints in the snow, just like they do with tire and shoe marks in the mud. Whether those impressions become important evidence varies.

"It's like fingerprints," he said. "You might get a match, you might not."

In Lake Villa earlier this month, the snow played a role in the arrest of an 18-year-old and two juveniles accused of stealing a car and smashing at least 20 mailboxes.

The teens ended up ditching the car and running home, police said.

"Our officers took fingerprints from the car and also followed footprints in the snow for at least a half-mile before ending up at (the suspect's) house," Lake Villa Police Chief Ron Roth told the Daily Herald.

But snow also can work against police, too. Aside from making the roads dangerous for travel, it can mask evidence if it's coming down hard and thick enough, Gengler said.

"Enough for a white Christmas is good," he said. "But that's it."

'Tis the season: Christmas will be a bit brighter for dozens of local families thanks to Kane County's sheriff's office, bar association and law library.

The sheriff's office recently partnered with Wayside Cross Ministries and several area churches to collect gifts for children of inmates at the county jail. The charity event culminated Sunday with a distribution party in Aurora.

The Kane County Bar Association and the Kane County Law Library and Self-Help Legal Center also got into the spirit, collecting toys, cash and other items for the Salvation Army's Angel Tree program for needy children.

In addition, the bar association put on a "professional clothing drive" to provide gently-worn business clothes for use by defendants being represented by the public defender's office.