Find Downers Grove Police Records

Downers Grove police records are held by the Downers Grove Police Department and, for county-level matters, by the DuPage County Sheriff's Office. This village of about 50,000 sits in DuPage County, the second most populous county in Illinois. Getting police records in Downers Grove means knowing which agency has the file and how the FOIA process works. This page walks through the steps, the fees, and the state resources available for deeper searches.

Downers Grove Police Department

The Downers Grove Police Department is at 825 Burlington Avenue, Downers Grove, IL 60515. They hold all police records for incidents within the village. That includes incident reports, arrest records, traffic crash reports, and field contact cards made by Downers Grove officers.

To get a copy of a police report, you submit a written FOIA request. The Illinois Freedom of Information Act (5 ILCS 140/) gives you the legal right to request records from any public body in the state. Put your name and contact info on the request. Describe what you need. Include the date, the location, any names connected to the incident, and the case number if you have it. The more detail, the better. Send the request by mail, email, or in person at the station.

The department has five business days to respond. They can extend to ten with a written notice. The first 50 pages are free. After that, you pay $0.15 per page. Payment goes by check or money order. If your request is denied, the letter has to cite the specific FOIA exemption that applies. You can appeal to the Public Access Counselor at the Illinois Attorney General's office. The appeal is free.

DuPage County Sheriff's Office

The DuPage County Sheriff's Office is at 501 North County Farm Road, Wheaton, IL 60187. Phone: (630) 407-2000. The sheriff covers unincorporated DuPage County. If an incident near Downers Grove happened outside village limits, the sheriff may have the report.

Submit a FOIA request by mail, email, or in person. The rules are the same: five business days, first 50 pages free, $0.15 after that. The sheriff also runs the DuPage County Jail. Booking records are available through FOIA. Since Wheaton is about 15 minutes from Downers Grove, you can deliver a request in person without much trouble.

The sheriff's office and the Downers Grove PD are separate agencies. Records do not cross over. If you are not sure who responded to an incident, call either one and they can usually point you in the right direction.

DuPage County Circuit Clerk

Court records for Downers Grove cases go through the DuPage County Circuit Clerk at 505 North County Farm Road, Wheaton, IL 60187. Phone: (630) 407-8700. The clerk handles case files, court dates, dispositions, and sentencing data for the 18th Judicial Circuit.

The screenshot below shows the DuPage County Circuit Clerk records page, which is the starting point for court record searches related to Downers Grove cases.

Source: DuPage County Circuit Clerk

One important detail: criminal records at the DuPage County Circuit Clerk are not available online. You must visit in person to search criminal case files. This is different from some other Illinois counties that offer online lookup. The clerk's main office is in Wheaton, but Downers Grove has its own field court location.

The Downers Grove Field Court is at 4000 Saratoga Avenue, American Legion Post 80, Downers Grove, IL 60515. Some cases are heard here instead of at the main courthouse in Wheaton. The circuit clerk can tell you which location has the file you need. There is also a field court in Addison at 3 Friendship Plaza, 2nd Floor, for other DuPage County cases.

Under the Criminal Identification Act (20 ILCS 2630/), sealed and expunged records are not released by the circuit clerk. Juvenile records are also restricted. If a case was sealed by court order, you will not find it in any public search.

Criminal Background Checks

Criminal history reports are not provided by the Downers Grove Police Department. Those come from the Illinois State Police Bureau of Identification at 260 North Chicago Street, Joliet, IL 60432. Call (815) 740-5160.

The Uniform Conviction Information Act (20 ILCS 2635/) restricts public access to conviction data only. Arrests that did not result in a conviction are private. For a name-based search, use CHIRP at chirp.isp.illinois.gov. Register, enter the name and date of birth, and the system returns conviction records from all Illinois counties.

Fingerprint-based checks through a Live Scan vendor are more accurate. They match against state and FBI databases. The BOI has a list of approved vendors. If you want to see your own record, the ISP offers Access and Review at no cost. This lets you check your file and challenge any mistakes.

State Police and Crash Reports

ISP Troop 3 patrols the highways near Downers Grove. That includes I-88, I-355, and the tollway system. If a state trooper responded to a crash or incident on one of these roads, the ISP has the report. The Downers Grove PD would not have it. The Illinois Tollway Central Authority desk for ISP crash report pickups is at 2700 Ogden Avenue in Downers Grove. This location handles reports from tollway incidents in the area.

ISP crash reports are available online at isp.illinois.gov/CrashReports. By mail, each report costs $5. Send a check to the Patrol Records Unit at 801 South 7th Street, Suite 600-M, Springfield, IL 62703. The ISP FOIA Officer is Sarah Wheeler at ISP.FOIA.Officer@illinois.gov. She handles requests for records beyond crash reports.

The Sex Offender Registry at sor.isp.illinois.gov is free for Downers Grove residents to search. Look up offenders by name, address, or zip code. Offenders in Downers Grove must register with the village police department. That data feeds into the statewide system maintained by the ISP.

Nearby Cities

These cities are near Downers Grove. Each has its own police department and FOIA process for records.