Sergeant Chris Darr reflects on career in law enforcement

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (NEXSTAR) — Sergeant Chris Darr’s perception of his job at the sheriff’s office has changed a lot over his 21 year career.

“It started off that I wanted to just catch bad guys,” Darr said. “I wanted to take as many people to jail was possible.”

Since then, he’s learned a lot of lessons from high profile cases, from mistakes he’s made and from being in a leadership role with the department.

“You see so much tragedy,” Darr said. “You see so many so many bad things out there and it changes you as a person. You you look at how society has evolved and you evolve as a person.”

Champaign County Sheriff Dustin Heuerman says it’s those lessons that makes Darr such a great leader for his young department.

“The qualities and the mentorship that Sergeant Darr provides is great when it comes to mentoring those other deputies and he has had so many experiences both as a police officer throughout his career,” Heuerman said.

Darr has been involved in some of the most high profile cases the Sheriff’s Department has been involved in.

Including the Cassano cold case that was solved with new DNA evidence, and the Vincente Mundo case, where a student from the U of I campus was found dead.

“I’ve had some very difficult cases that I’m very proud of,” Darr said. “I’ve also had some cases that I wish I had back and I have regrets and the biggest thing is that, you know, we’re human, we’re not we’re not superheroes. We have mistakes, we have flaws. You know, I I wish I had a time machine but I don’t.”

As Darr has stepped into that leadership role with the department, he specifically focuses on the mental health of his deputies. He knows the toll the job can take on officers. And he wants to make sure the Champaign County Sheriff’s Department is willing to discuss those problems.

“I feel like I’m the older more senior guy. I worry about my deputies,” Darr said. “I worry about getting them home safe. I worry about being a good teacher. I want to make sure that I do the best for them. So we have the next generation of police officers coming up doing the very best.”

Heuerman shares that desire, but it takes more than one person to build a culture. And he said Darr’s attitude stretches to the rest of his command staff.

“There’s always been a stigma around trying to get officers the help that they need to kind of let that out. And so sergeant Darr’s mentorship sergeant Darr’s philosophy when it comes to approaching that is really great and kind of getting rid of that stigma,” Heuerman said.

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