City IG makes recommendations in wake of botched raid by CPD
The city inspector general’s office on Friday released recommendations on what it considers urgent fixes needed to improve how Chicago police officers verify information used to secure search warrants.
The recommendations from Inspector General Joe Ferguson’s office were sent to the Chicago Police Department ahead of two major pending investigations, one into search warrants in general and a second looking at the improper 2019 raid executed at the home of Anjanette Young, which has roiled City Hall.
Young was the social worker forced to stand handcuffed and unclothed in her home while officers conducted a search, despite her repeated assertions that they were in the wrong home. Police video of the botched raid when viral last year.
“Recent events … have compelled us to issue these urgent recommendations–– stemming from and amidst the long-term programmatic inquiry––to effect substantive changes in CPD’s policies and practices to prevent serious harm to Chicagoans,” Deputy Inspector General for Public Safety Deborah Witzburg said in a statement released Friday.
The raid executed at Young’s home was captured on officers’ body cameras and was first reported by WBBM-Ch. 2. The city’s corporation counsel sought to block the release of the troubling video before it was publicly released.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot was forced to make a public apology to Young and the city’s top attorney later resigned.
According to the report issued Friday, Chicago police have three types of search warrants, but only one, the type that relies on anonymous informants, requires an independent investigation to verify the information before the warrant is executed.
The recommendations call for all three types to have the same type of oversight, and also noted that supervisors currently do not have enough flexibility when it comes to starting a disciplinary proceeding against officers involved in an improper raid.
The recommendations have been sent to Superintendent David Brown.
In a letter submitted and released by the inspector general’s office, Brown said internal reviews of the search warrant practices, which include the department’s specialized teams as well as other cities, are already underway and that a search warrant committee has been formed to study “every aspect that touches on obtaining and serving a search warrant.” A report is expected to be released as early as the end of this month, the letter stated.
Brown also said the department will be reaching out to the community regarding the raids.
“As I have expressed repeatedly, it is imperative that we, as a Department, work to regain the trust of the residents of Chicago,” Brown wrote.