{"id":779296,"date":"2026-05-07T09:13:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T09:13:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/779296\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T09:13:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T09:13:17","slug":"anjanette-young-a-step-closer-to-serving-on-police-oversight-board","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/779296\/","title":{"rendered":"Anjanette Young a step closer to serving on police oversight board"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anjanette Young<\/a>, a leading Chicago police reform activist since cops stormed her home<\/a> in a botched raid, could soon have a key role overseeing the Chicago Police Department.<\/p>\n

Aldermen on Wednesday advanced Mayor Brandon Johnson\u2019s appointment of Young to the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability.<\/p>\n

Young, who has led a push to ban \u201cno-knock\u201d warrants like the one that saw her handcuffed naked in her home by officers who had the wrong address, argued the police failure that harmed her makes her well-suited for the civilian oversight body.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy lived experience does not compromise my ability to be fair,\u201d she told aldermen in the Police and Fire Committee. \u201cIt actually strengthens my ability to be just.\u201d<\/p>\n

But before City Council members voted 13-3 to approve the appointment, some questioned Young\u2019s fitness for the role.<\/p>\n

Ald. Derrick Curtis, 18th, who ultimately voted in favor of Young, said a phrase came to mind as he wondered if her mistreatment would allow her to treat police unfairly.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not fun when the rabbit has the gun,\u201d he said. \u201cBecause there\u2019s going to be a situation where, you got me this time, I\u2019ll get you this time.\u201d<\/p>\n

If approved in a full City Council vote, Young would join the seven-person commission that has a range of powers, including helping to set CPD policy, reviewing the police budget and playing a central role in selecting and removing police superintendents and several top leaders in other police oversight bodies.<\/p>\n

Ald. Silvana Tabares, 23rd, criticized Young for previously stating that the police returned \u201cexcessive\u201d fire when officers shot and killed 26-year-old Dexter Reed in 2024.<\/p>\n

Reed fired at police first during a traffic stop, shooting an officer in the wrist, before four officers fired nearly 100 shots at Reed, including three as he was lying motionless on the ground, according to investigators.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think that this is the perspective of somebody who can be objective,\u201d Tabares said. \u201cWe need individuals who are avoiding dangerous anti-police rhetoric that incites violence.\u201d<\/p>\n

The commission, created in 2021 by a City Council vote, is \u201cborn out of the same movement that also saw the skyrocketing of attacks on police since its creation,\u201d Tabares said. \u201cThe CCPSA\u2019s existence is unnecessary, and tax dollars could be better spent elsewhere,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Other aldermen quickly fired back after Tabares\u2019 speech, a prelude to potential disagreement ahead of the final vote later this month.<\/p>\n

Young has \u201call the right in the world to be screaming at every single one of us\u201d after police accidentally stormed into her home, guns drawn, Ald. Andre Vasquez, 40th, said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the majority of people here went through the scenario you went through, they would not have the patience and the integrity to even go through a process,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t think they would want to interact with the city.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are \u201cgood and bad on both sides,\u201d argued Ald. Jeanette Taylor, 20th.<\/p>\n

\"ChicagoChicago Ald. Silvana Tabares, 23rd, left, listens as the nomination of Anjanette Young, foreground right, to join the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA) passes on May 6, 2026. Tabares voted against the nomination. (Terrence Antonio James\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t talk about the numerous police officers who have killed innocent people. Where is that conversation?\u201d Taylor said. \u201cLet\u2019s not act as if we ain\u2019t spending millions of dollars in police settlements.\u201d<\/p>\n

Young won $2.9 million from the city in 2021 to settle a lawsuit tied to the 2019 raid, when police made her stand naked and handcuffed as she repeatedly insisted they had the wrong place.<\/p>\n

Following the vote, Young said that she had a \u201cresponsibility\u201d after she survived that ordeal.<\/p>\n

The appointment \u201cis an opportunity for me to show the public, the community, the police department that there\u2019s someone who\u2019s committed to changing my experience, changing what happened to me in a way that it never happens to anyone else again,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Aldermen also advanced the appointment to the commission of Angelique Guzm\u00e1n. Johnson nominated the Mather High School senior to serve in one of the commission\u2019s two seats earmarked for people under the age of 25.<\/p>\n

Guzm\u00e1n, who previously interned in Vasquez\u2019s 40th Ward office, helped organize a February student walkout in protest of the Trump administration\u2019s mass deportation campaign.<\/p>\n

Several members of police district councils on the North Side called on aldermen to delay voting during the meeting\u2019s public comment portion. The commission\u2019s makeup requirements \u2014 at least two members must be under 25, and two members must come from the city\u2019s North, South and West sides \u2014 would leave the North Side represented by two youth members, they said.<\/p>\n

An outcome leaving the North Side represented by youth and other parts of the city by \u201cexperienced adults\u201d would be \u201cnot reflective of the community,\u201d argued Karen Kane, a member of the 18th Police District Council. She urged aldermen to slow down and reconsider the requirements.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not a progressive issue. This is not a conservative issue,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is a good governance issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Sam Schoenburg, a member of the 19th Police District Council, also on the North Side, urged aldermen to move ahead with the vote. The commissioners represent the whole city, not just the areas they come from, he argued, citing a letter signed by 13 members of North Side district councils.<\/p>\n

A delay would \u201cpotentially hamstring the work of the commission, while doing nothing to change the requirements of the ordinance,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Anjanette Young, a leading Chicago police reform activist since cops stormed her home in a botched raid, could…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":779297,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,5404,5295,5386,1818,1370,50,80],"class_list":{"0":"post-779296","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-chicago","9":"tag-cook-county","10":"tag-crime-and-public-safety","11":"tag-il","12":"tag-illinois","13":"tag-latest-headlines","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-politics"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116532530968818923","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=779296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779296\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/779297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=779296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=779296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=779296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}