More calls come into Campton Hills police

Reported crime and requests for police service have hit an all-time high in Campton Hills, the police chief said Tuesday.

Throughout June alone, village officers handled 419 service calls and crime reports - up from roughly 180 to 250 in the months prior.

Chief Greg Anderson told the village board the increase likely reflects heightened public awareness of the one-year-old town's fledgling police department, which took over for the Kane County sheriff's office Nov. 1, and not necessarily a spike in actual crime.

"This is a huge increase from the previous months," he said. "I think that's going to continue to rise for a while. A lot of (the reason) is people getting comfortable calling."

Among June calls for service, Anderson said there were 82 requests for extra patrols from vacationing homeowners and several reports of assault and domestic disputes.

More than 70 reports were related to thefts and burglaries, which have made up more than 20 percent of the department's entire call log to date.

Anderson said persuading villagers to lock up their homes, vehicles and valuables remains a challenge.

"It's pretty hard to us to prevent crime when that happens," he said. "You've got to take temptation away."

Also in June, there were 24 reported vehicle crashes, many of them along Route 64 and Burlington Road.

Anderson said the village has had no deadly crashes so far. "We're very fortunate," he said.

The chief added that the police department has favorable response times, averaging just less than six minutes.