Robert “Bob” Berlin has announced he will seek his fourth, four-year term as DuPage County state’s attorney in 2024.
Berlin was appointed in 2010 to the unexpired term of Joseph Birkett and was elected three consecutive times as a Republican to the county’s top prosecutorial position in 2012, 2016 and 2020.
A Downers Grove resident, husband and father of two daughters, Berlin said among his most recent accomplishments was to work with legislative leaders in Springfield to help amend the state’s Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today Act, or SAFE-T Act, bond provisions for violent crimes.
According to Berlin, a change in the “dangerousness standard” for detaining defendants before trial allows judges greater discretion and prosecutors a fair opportunity to keep dangerous criminals from being put back out on the street while awaiting trial.
As a result of Berlin’s work on the SAFE-T Act, the DuPage Mayors and Managers Conference presented Berlin with the 2022 Governmental Leader of the Year Award in January.
Other accomplishments he cited include:
Collaborating with educators and law enforcement to create the DuPage County School Mutual Aid Response Team, or DuSMART, which expedites mutual aid in crises in DuPage County school districts and cooperatives.
Working with the Family Violence Coordinating Counsel to incorporate technology to help victims of domestic abuse access resources and contacts.
Using Illinois’ firearms restraining order law to keep firearms out of the hands of those who have been found by a judge to pose a danger of causing personal injury to themselves or others.
Advocating as a member of the executive committee of Fight Crime Invest in Kids Illinois to increase in state funding for programs that have a track record of reducing crime, resulting in better outcomes for kids.
Berlin’s career began in 1987 as an assistant state’s attorney in Cook County. He moved to Kane County in 2001 to become first assistant state’s attorney.
Three years later, Berlin began working for the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office as deputy chief of the Juvenile Division and was promoted to deputy chief of the Felony Trial Division a few years later.
In 2010 he became chief of the Criminal Bureau, where he supervised all assistant state’s attorneys charged with the criminal prosecutions.
