JOURNALIST LOOKING FOR HELP
Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2025 8:33 amI hope you don't mind the unsolicited email - my name is Rich Preston and I'm a journalist with the BBC where I cover international news for our audiences around the world.
I'm also, as it happens, a former police officer. I served for several years in rural Scotland. Though I appreciate that is world's away from downtown Chicago, I do have something more of an insight into the challenges police officers face than most journalists.
One of the stories which has been getting a lot of attention from our audiences across the globe is that of Mr Trump sending the National Guard and ICE to Chicago in order to tackle the city's crime and illegal alien numbers. Whilst I'm sure the men and women who serve on the frontlines do their best every day, sadly the figures speak for themselves. I recently interviewed the former mayor Ms Lightfoot (who is opposed to the National Guard arriving) and I put it to her that you don't need to be a mathematician to realise that 500+ murders in one year is more than one a day and clearly there's an argument that more resources are needed.
I have read with interest some of your organisation's newsletters where your colleagues talk about the desperate need for more policing resources to enable CPD officers to do their job better and more robustly. (I don't know whether you'll be reassured or horrified to hear that that's a cry made loud and clear by British police officers, too!).
I wonder if you or one of your colleagues has a particularly strong view on the use of the military in Chicago? I know it's a divisive issue. On one hand there is the argument that any help is better than no help, and if it means soldiers working alongside police officers, boosting that visible presence, supporting in arrests, then that's a good thing. On the other hand, I've heard some police officers saying that they've worked for years on the frontlines, building up relationships with communities, learning the names, the faces, understanding the needs and issues - and that the military or ICE coming in has put some officers into difficult positions where they're having to assist in ICE enforcement operations which in the short-term results in a detention but in the long term puts these officers into difficult positions and risks damaging their reputations with the communities they serve.
I appreciate you must be a busy man, but I would be curious to hear your reflections on this, and how the retired CPD community feels about what it's seeing on the streets and on the nightly news? You guys know the area, you've walked those beats, you get the dynamics in ways that commentators and lawmakers in Washington simply don't. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts and wonder if you might be open to a short phone call at some point?
With my very best wishes,
Rich
Rich Preston
BBC NEWS
Mobile: +44 (0)7522 994 058 / +44 (0)7960 051 672
US Cell: +1 (202) 579 3397
Email: rich.preston@bbc.co.uk
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I'm also, as it happens, a former police officer. I served for several years in rural Scotland. Though I appreciate that is world's away from downtown Chicago, I do have something more of an insight into the challenges police officers face than most journalists.
One of the stories which has been getting a lot of attention from our audiences across the globe is that of Mr Trump sending the National Guard and ICE to Chicago in order to tackle the city's crime and illegal alien numbers. Whilst I'm sure the men and women who serve on the frontlines do their best every day, sadly the figures speak for themselves. I recently interviewed the former mayor Ms Lightfoot (who is opposed to the National Guard arriving) and I put it to her that you don't need to be a mathematician to realise that 500+ murders in one year is more than one a day and clearly there's an argument that more resources are needed.
I have read with interest some of your organisation's newsletters where your colleagues talk about the desperate need for more policing resources to enable CPD officers to do their job better and more robustly. (I don't know whether you'll be reassured or horrified to hear that that's a cry made loud and clear by British police officers, too!).
I wonder if you or one of your colleagues has a particularly strong view on the use of the military in Chicago? I know it's a divisive issue. On one hand there is the argument that any help is better than no help, and if it means soldiers working alongside police officers, boosting that visible presence, supporting in arrests, then that's a good thing. On the other hand, I've heard some police officers saying that they've worked for years on the frontlines, building up relationships with communities, learning the names, the faces, understanding the needs and issues - and that the military or ICE coming in has put some officers into difficult positions where they're having to assist in ICE enforcement operations which in the short-term results in a detention but in the long term puts these officers into difficult positions and risks damaging their reputations with the communities they serve.
I appreciate you must be a busy man, but I would be curious to hear your reflections on this, and how the retired CPD community feels about what it's seeing on the streets and on the nightly news? You guys know the area, you've walked those beats, you get the dynamics in ways that commentators and lawmakers in Washington simply don't. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts and wonder if you might be open to a short phone call at some point?
With my very best wishes,
Rich
Rich Preston
BBC NEWS
Mobile: +44 (0)7522 994 058 / +44 (0)7960 051 672
US Cell: +1 (202) 579 3397
Email: rich.preston@bbc.co.uk
X | Instagram | LinkedIn
This email, including attachments, is private and confidential and may contain personal views which are not the views of the Company unless specifically stated. If you have received this email in error, please notify the sender and delete it from your system. Any commercial terms contained in this e-mail or any attachments are for discussion purposes only, and do not constitute a legal agreement. No binding agreement will exist unless and until written execution of a long form contract signed by all parties to the agreement. Please note that the Company monitors e-mails sent or received. Further communication will signify your consent to this.