Chicago City Council Black Caucus Resolution Calls To Abolish Warrants Based On Information From Paid Informants, Following CBS 2 Investigation
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Three members of Chicago's law department are out following what Mayor Lori Lightfoot calls the mishandling of the Anjanette Young case. A city council meeting Tuesday will address the case. A city council source now tells CBS 2 Investigators that the resolution will include abolishing warrants based only on information from paid informants and changing the city's police on the release of video footage.
The Black Caucus has introduced a resolution calling for the city to adopt several ordinances:
- Abolishing the practice of issuing warrants based solely upon the use of paid informants.
- Keeping a database of reliability of sources used for search warrants, to see patterns of erroneous information.
- A standardized process for search warrant applications, States Attorney review, judicial sign off, and post execution results.
- Changing the City's policy on the release of video footage. As under current rules, the release of video for this type of incident is NOT to be released, per the policy; and this must change.
- Passage of Civilian Oversight measures for the Chicago Police Department
- Question the actions and/or inactions of the City of Chicago employees including the COPA Administrator, CPD Chains of Command, members of the Law Department; and also review the roles of the Cook County States' Attorney and members of the Judiciary. This must be answered with the appropriate individuals held accountable.
- Call on the Inspector General to conduct a complete investigation of this incident.
- The establishment of a City Council Committee on Litigation Review and Risk Management to provide oversight and review of our Risk Management, Litigation Strategy, and Settlement practices.
This is a result of CBS 2 Investigators exposing Anjanette Young's case and many other victims of bad raids. Young was a victim of a botched raid conducted by Chicago police, which was recorded in February of 2019. Lightfoot had criticized the city's Law Department for seeking to block CBS 2 from airing video footage of the wrong raid of Young's home. A federal judge denied that request, and Lightfoot has since said that it was a mistake, though she has denied knowing about the request beforehand.
WATCH: My Name Is Anjanette Young: A CBS 2 Special Presentation
A joint public safety committee and human relations committee hearing addressing wrong raids and Young's case is scheduled for 11 a.m. Tuesday. Several aldermen are inviting Lightfoot to join them and detail how Young's case was handled, including what she knew about it after she called the effort by the law department to seek sanctions against Young's attorney "a colossal mistake."
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The mayor said, had she been advised of the move beforehand, she never would have allowed the Law Department to seek sanctions.
Monday, Mayor Lightfoot also announced every officer involved in the wrong raid of Young's home has been placed on desk duty until the city's Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) concludes its investigation of the 2019 incident. The mayor said the officers were removed from the street at the direction of Chicago Police Supt. David Brown, amid a COPA investigation that has dragged on for more than a year.
"I want to take this moment to once again commend CBS 2 for their efforts in this matter," Mayor Lightfoot said Monday. "However, as I've said before, while admirable, the media should not be doing our job for us."
She said emails of when and what she knew about the Anjanette Young case should be released any day.
A collective of Black women plans to gather outside City Hall at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday to demand justice for Young. The group includes women of all ages from several organizations, including Black Lives Matter and Woman's All Points Bulletin. They will call for Mayor Lori Lightfoot to follow through on her campaign promises of police reform.
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