Superintendent Larry Snelling retired last week and was replaced by Fred Waller on an interim basis.
"We are going to go through a thorough vetting process over the next few months," Johnson said. "Right now, although I have absolute confidence in Fred Waller as the current superintendent as we work to build safe and affordable communities. "
Mayor Johnson said the city has made strides in bringing down violence.
"It's why 1.7 million people visited the Loop just in the first quarter alone," the mayor said. That's a $485 million economic impact there. The development that is happening in the South Loop has reached almost a billion dollars. Clearly, there is confidence in the city of Chicago/ What we are doing is working. We are investing in young people. We are expanding mental and behavioral healthcare. Because I want the people of Chicago to know that my strategy is not simply policing. Policing plays a part but policing alone is not going to keep us safe and certainly not going to automatically building our economy."
When asked about teen takeovers, Johnson said, "We have to make sure that we have safe spaces for our young people. This weekend for instance, we are hosting the WNBA All Star Game. We released over 500 free tickets to young people, We are invested in our parks to give young people more activated spaces. You may remember, I partnered with the YMCA where we made it free for young people to have YMCA memberships. Right now, we have over 2,000 young people that are participating in seven Ys across the city of Chicago. Between the economic development that is happening in our city, more visitors coming to our city, creating more safe spaces for our young people and of course, I am very proud in terms of reaching our goals in terms of young people that we've hired. Last year, we hired more young people than any other administration. So certainly, we have to hold people accountable, but it is about accountability as well as opportunity and we are doing both."
Mayor Johnson declined to answer if he was running for re-election.