Faster police response would not have saved slain Officer Areanah Preston, Johnson’s chief of staff says

An internal investigation is under way to determine why it took police more than 30 minutes to find fatally wounded Chicago Police Officer Areanah Preston — but a faster response time would not have saved her life, according to Rich Guidice, Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson’s chief of staff.

Guidice spent nearly 20 years running the Office of Emergency Management and Communications, which oversees emergency dispatch from Chicago’s 911 emergency center. He is intimately familiar with police and fire dispatch and the impediments to prompt emergency response times.

On Wednesday, Guidice acknowledged an internal investigation is underway to determine why CPD did not respond to the Avalon Park block where Preston was accosted by a group of robbers until more than 30 minutes after a ShotSpotter alert from that location.

But Guidice firmly believes the delayed response played no role in the officer’s death.

“Chicago Police did the best they could to get to the scene of the incident as quickly as they did,” he said.

“But this was just an immediate situation. … There were shots fired” and she likely died immediately. “I think we’re talking about seconds here. I don’t think we’re talking about minutes.”

But, he added, the internal investigation will look “to see if there was anything that could have been different that would have changed the outcome.”

Anthony Riccio, the retired first deputy police superintendent, told the Sun-Times this week it appears there was a backlog of calls, so no car was immediately available for the ShotSpotter alert.

“When they received the traffic accident from the Apple Watch, [the dispatcher] gave it to a traffic car,” Riccio said, noting that traffic cops typically operate alone, covering an entire police district, and are sent only to traffic incidents.

One-officer cars “don’t get assigned shots fired, domestics, robberies, things like that,” Riccio said. “Had somebody gotten there sooner, it may have had a different outcome certainly.”

Guidice disagreed.

Does that mean he believes Preston died almost instantly?

“Yeah,” Guidice said. “‘Tragic’ isn’t enough of a word to use in that situation. This is a young female officer, 24 years old, just reaching the prime of her life, reaching all of her goals in life and making her family, her neighborhood and the police department proud.”

Whether or not a speedier response would have saved Preston’s life, the staffing shortage behind the delay spells trouble for police response times over Memorial Day weekend and through the summer, when crowded beaches, a scheduled NASCAR race, Lollapalooza, Taste of Chicago and other festivals and special events strain police resources.

“That’s something we’re working with [Interim Police Supt.] Fred Waller and his chief of patrol on: How to address these priorities and getting to these situations as quickly as we can. ... Identifying resources that can be moved around the department and pushed into areas that are potentially more concerning and just really adjusting resources within to try and up that number that we have in the field,” he said.

With 1,700 fewer officers than when Mayor Lori Lightfoot took office, Guidice acknowledged demoralized police officers just might be in for another string of canceled days off.

“We had a big influx of Chicago policemen that signed up for the job in the early 90’s and they’re coming to their tenure where they’re eligible to retire. That plays a big factor,” he said.

City Council reorganization

Earlier this week, Johnson forged a compromise to shrink the number of City Council committees from 28 to 20, replace Finance Committee Chairman Scott Waguespack (32nd) with Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd) and install Democratic Socialist Caucus Chair Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th) as Zoning Committee chair.

Johnson picked that early fight instead of accepting the reorganization approved by the Council March 30 because “he believes that the way he set up City Council is in the best interest of the city,” Guidice said.

“Putting people that he … has relationships with is obviously important just for that. ... It’s his prerogative to make those changes as he deems necessary,” Guidice said.

The decision to install the Council’s leading Democratic Socialist as Zoning Committee chair raised eyebrows in the development community.

But Guidice said “a few good conversations” with Ramirez-Rosa “gave the mayor the confidence” that the new chair would not make unrealistic affordability demands that stymie development.

“He’ll give his opinion on things. But at the end of the day, he’s gonna do what’s best for the city of Chicago,” Guidice said.

“Part of making Chicago thrive is building, putting cranes up in the sky and putting people to work. The alderman is aware of that. ... The mayor-elect is confident that he’s gonna get the job done for us.”

Current leaders asked to stay on

Five days before the inauguration, Guidice said all current department heads and agency chiefs have been asked to stay on for at least three months to ease the transition — including embattled CTA President Dorval Carter Jr.

“We want to give them the opportunity to show this mayor what they can do and what they’re about before any of those types of decisions of moving people out would take place,” Guidice said.