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City Council Members Set To Introduce 'Anjanette Young Ordinance' For Police Search Warrant Reforms, But Mayor Lightfoot Says She Will Be Issuing New Order Too

By Chris Tye and Dave Savini

CHICAGO (CBS) -- At the beginning of the day Wednesday, we planned to lead our "Hour 18" newscast with more on a proposal by several members of the City Council tackling bad police raids.

But then, Mayor Lori Lightfoot threw a curveball with a new plan on her part.

This is all the result of CBS 2's exclusive investigation into the raid on Anjanette Young's home two years ago.

Mayor Lightfoot said Wednesday that the CPD is days away from announcing their reforms on raids. Meanwhile, the group of progressive City Council members announced massive reform proposals of their own.

The proposals are each aimed at preventing what happened inside Young's home. She was handcuffed naked and afraid in a high-profile and violent botched police raid.

As CBS 2's Chris Tye reported, the proposed Anjanette Young Ordinance is what some city leaders call nothing short of a full-court press to dismantle systemic racism in the city of Chicago – with a reengineering of what comes before, during, and after every CPD raid.

"When the 12 police officers barreled into her home unannounced with a battering ram, it was the last straw in a long history of police misconduct," said Ald. Leslie Hairston (5th).

That last straw has given birth to first-of-its-kind legislation.

The Anjanette Young Ordinance will be introduced to the City Council Friday. If passed, it would reform what happens before, during and after moments like the wrong raid on Young's home two years ago this week, which was first exposed by CBS 2 Investigator Dave Savini.

You can read the full proposed ordinance here:
[scribd id=495763220 key=key-LyEx44LGpQDXW18lsD6K mode=scroll]

"Not only helps me, but helps future, you know, people who may have experiences with this police department," Young said.

Police entered the wrong home, leaving Young naked, ignored and, humiliated.

"What happened to Miss Young was dehumanizing, it was humiliating, and it should never happen again," said Ald. Maria Hadden (49th).

The ordinance is sweeping. It calls for all raids to include a knock, an announcement, and no less than 30 seconds' wait to break down a door.

It also calls for residential search warrants to be limited between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. And any informants that provide bad tips can't be used again.

The ordinance further calls for body cameras to roll for the entire raid, and for police to limit raids when children and vulnerable people aren't there - and special plans if they are.

It first heads to City Council Public Safety committee for review.

"This is going to codify these reforms into city code," Hadden said. "This is going to make the law of our city."

That would take things further than executive actions put forth by the Mayor's office - the same Mayor's office that tried blocking our access to the footage that set much of this in motion.

"It happened under the purview of a Black police superintendent. The subsequent coverup happened under the purview of a Black woman mayor," said Kennedy Bartley of United Working Families. "Identity without action is bankrupt."

"I haven't had a chance to look at it, because they didn't contact us ahead of time," Mayor Lightfoot said of the ordinance.

The mayor said the ordinance fails to reference CPD procedures at all - procedures she says the department plans to update just days from now.

"Next week, we will be revealing a revised general order regarding search warrants," Lightfoot said.

As to what's next, the mayor said at some point next week, her office will roll out the policies outlining times, places, and manner of search warrants and raids permitted by CPD.

The proposal by the alderwomen will formally be presented to council Friday then head to the Public Safety Committee for review.

The ordinance had been planned for introduction on Wednesday, but the City Council meeting ended before that happened. It has been placed on the city Clerk's legislation website.

The mayor announced her first search warrant and raid reforms in January 2020, but Savini's investigations showed officers did not follow the policy bad raids continued to happen after that.

"People that are frustrated by these raids – the victims – say, what good are all of these policies and changes if you don't follow the ones on the books. If nobody is disciplined – and there needs to be a discipline component, what good are these rules?" Savini said.

The State Of Anjanette Young's Lawsuit
Meanwhile, Young last week filed a lawsuit against Chicago Police and the City of Chicago over the botched raid. The lawsuit filed in state court late this past Friday signifies the city's failure to expeditiously reach a settlement with Young, something to which Mayor Lori Lightfoot and city lawyers previously committed.

In the legal process, the next complaint comes discovery – a quest for documents and evidence. With the lawsuit officially filed, Young's attorney, Keenan Saulter, will soon have subpoena power to get all records related to this case he plans.

A critical issue will be body cam videos. The city by law was required to turn over all the videos, yet they withheld six key recordings - including the video from the first officer through the door he aimed a high-powered rifle at Young.

The video is critical proof showing a use of force with a deadly weapon against Young as a rifle as trained on her, and it was buried until we broke the case wide open in December.

Savini asked Saulter whether he would go after sanctions against the city Law Department for not turning over the body camera videos.

"That is something we're certainly considering," Saulter said. "I find it galling that they felt the need to try to have me sanctioned for making public and shining a light on the improper conduct that Ms. Young suffered, and at the same time, all the while they knew - even after they filed a motion for sanctions against me - they were still withholding videos from us."

If Saulter wins a sanctions case against the city and wins, a jury will get to hear about the cover-up in court.

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