Dupage Policy Journal

DuPage County State's Attorney Robert "Bob" Berlin has announced he plans to seek a fourth term in office.

"Berlin’s advocacy as a member of the executive committee of Fight Crime Invest in Kids Illinois has brought about an increase in state funding for programs that have a proven track record of reducing crime, resulting in better outcomes for kids," a statement on Berlin's website reads.

Berlin first took office in 2010 after being appointed to the unexpired term of Joseph Birkett. Since then he has been elected to three straight terms as a Republican to the county’s top prosecutorial position in 2012, 2016 and 2020.

Berlin highlights that he has tirelessly worked to help amend the state’s Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today Act (SAFE-T Act) bond provisions for violent crimes, blasting it as a “dangerousness standard.” He added that having the option of detaining defendants before trial allows judges greater discretion and prosecutors a fair opportunity to keep dangerous criminals off the street and from potentially victimizing others.

Boasting a career that spans more than three decades, Berlin started out in 1987 as an assistant state’s attorney in Cook County and moved to Kane County in 2001 to become first assistant state’s attorney. In 2004, he began working for the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office as deputy chief of the Juvenile Division, and in 2010 became chief of the Criminal Bureau, where he supervised all assistant state’s attorneys charged with the criminal prosecutions.

Other accomplishments while in his current top position include working with the Family Violence Coordinating Counsel to incorporate technology to help protect victims of domestic abuse access resources and contacts and making use of the state's firearms restraining order law to keep guns out of those deemed by a judge to pose a danger.