Chicago Mayor And Police Superintendent Promise Reform To Prevent Botched Raids
CHICAGO (CBS) -- For city leaders this week was all about denial. Why did Chicago deny a Freedom of Information Act request by victim, Anjanette Young, who was handcuffed naked in a wrong raid, and why did officials try to cover it up? But Thursday shifted to accountability and change from the mayor and police superintendent.
CBS 2 Political Investigator Dana Kozlov asked the superintendent about officer training and if it needs to include how to hand sensitive situation's like Young's case.
Young was handcuffed -- naked -- and left that way for about two minutes before she was allowed to cover up at all.
But training is not the only change city hall and the Chicago Police Department are making moving forward. There will now be restrictions on no-knock search warrants in the hopes of making wrong raids a thing of the past.
Promises of change about how search warrants are signed and carried out in Chicago were echoed by Police Supt. David Brown at Thursday night's virtual police board meeting.
"This week I ordered my senior staff to perform another thorough review," he said.
It caps off a day when both Brown and Mayor Lori Lightfoot acknowledged the massive mistakes made in the wrongful raid on Young's home and the necessity for real search warrant reforms.
"I've had a lot of conversations with a lot of people, particularly my Black female friends. We all feel exactly the same. We feel outraged. We feel like her dignity and our was denied," Lightfoot said.
"We're going to find what we did wrong, and we're going to correct it," Brown said.
Both the superintendent and mayor mapped out specific changes now being put in place because of Young's ordeal and the other wrongful raid cases the CBS 2 Investigators have been exposing for years. Brown said no-knock warrants, like the one in Young's case, will only be approved in matters of life and death. They must be approved by a bureau chief. With Young's permission her video will be used for training.
Kozlov asked if training will include how officers should handle someone who is naked, as was Young.
"This is not complicated," Brown said. "If that was your mother how would you want her to be treated?"
Brown said additional body cameras will also be added to SWAT, narcotics and gang teams to ensure all search warrant actions are recorded.
Lightfoot expressed a lot of anger toward the city's corporation counsel for how much of this case was handled, but Thursday she was still not saying if anyone should resign or be fired.
Also From CBS Chicago:
- 'You Have the Wrong Place:' Body Camera Video Shows Moments Police Handcuff Innocent, Naked Woman During Wrong Raid
- 3 High-Ranking Fire Department Officials Ask For Demotion, Including One Who Sources Say Was Twice Denied Boarding On A Plane Because He Was Drunk
- Man Shot And Killed In School Parking Lot On Far South Side
