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A Life of Service
I was touched tonight by an account of the early morning murder of 24-year-old off-duty Officer Areanah Preston in Avalon Park on the south side of Chicago. She was found with five bullet wounds and is credited with having fired three shots in the incident. A young life dedicated to public service savagely terminated. I have no political points to make on this occasion, merely my humble prayers that the Lord have mercy on her and grant His strength to her family, friends, and coworkers.
Thank you for your service, Areanah. Rest in peace.
Published in Policing
This is a time when ‘like’ is absolutely the wrong word. It should be ‘this is important!’
Thanks
That stinks.
Sounds like an assassination.
(Edited because item shared was LEO sensitive. Its out there on twitter. However it assumes that the perp is on twitter and follows a radio personality…highly doubtful. Also, there were mistakes in the document…though someone in Chicago would know what it was referring to.)
Update from CWB Chicago:
She was going to receive a Master’s degree in Child and Family Law from Loyola this coming weekend. Her photo here was taken in front of the iconic Wrigley Building.
What a shame. What a damned waste.
why doesn’t this outrage corporate media as much as the Jordan Neely? They only care if they can use it to push a narrative.
Exactly.
Police departments take their time getting to what are dangerous situations in dangerous neighborhoods.
At least in Chicago, it might be argued that there were other dangerous calls that they were responding to.
Right.
Asuming that the district was not overstaffed when their stubbed-out cigarette-butt of a mayor took office, they’re ridiculously understaffed now.
As intended.
If you read the linked article you see the following,
Thanks for the “nudge” on reading the article.
I still am caught like a deer in the headlights, seeing the face of this beautiful young woman. (And even wondering if anyone I know in Chicago knows her.)
In digesting the linked information, it seems that the dispatcher should have immediately gotten a patrol car over to the address where the ShotSpotter app had detected nine shots being fired. But even when a police officer was informed, they were busy for quite a while after the report.
I don’t know how many “shots fired” alerts they get off of ShotSpotter per night, but I figure that they’ll head over if there are subsequent calls from citizens, or repeated incidents. The AppleWatch alert would have moved the incident up significantly in importance.
If you ever listen to a broadcastify feed of the encrypted CPD feeds by district (encryption being a feature provided by Lori Lightfoot…a feature that inhibits communication between officers and EMS/fire as well as preventing Joe Citizen from listening in real time) you will hear that the dispatchers in Chicago are absolutely outstanding. They keep tabs on their officer and do the best they can with what they have. And Shotspotters are going off far too often to be considered a priority call.
Regarding her neighborhood, its not a bad neighborhood at all–a mix of sturdy brick Chicago bungalows and two-flats with tidy gardens out front. I taught a few blocks from her house. Lots of people trying to do the right thing and live their lives. Not a perfect neighborhood, but on par with most other working/middle class areas in the city.
Overnight update from NBC5 Chicago,
Geographical aside, the location given in the linked story is in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood two blocks from Mike Pfleger‘s St. Sabina. I wonder what Father will have to say should this person turn out to be the killer?