Politics
CPD Policy That Does Not Ban No-Knock Warrants Leaves Anjanette Young ‘Frustrated’
Video: Anjanette Young joins “Chicago Tonight” on Feb. 3, 2026, to discuss her new book and CPD policy. (Produced by Shelby Hawkins)
A new Chicago Police Department policy that does not ban officers from serving no-knock warrants or from pointing guns at children during raids is now final, despite a pledge by Mayor Brandon Johnson to impose strict limits on how search warrants are used in Chicago.
The policy, which was finalized Dec. 26 with no public notice, will take effect once officers are trained on the new policy and after “the development and implementation of a new electronic search warrant reporting application,” records show.
Anjanette Young, a social worker who was handcuffed while naked during a botched raid in February 2019, told WTTW News’ “Chicago Tonight” she is frustrated with the policy.
“I’m frustrated with the process,” Young said, vowing to continue to lobby state lawmakers this spring with the help of state Rep. Kam Bucker (D-Chicago). “I’m also learning in this journey of being in this space that change doesn’t happen overnight and that it’s a marathon and not a sprint.”
Published Tuesday, Young’s book — “Past the Pain: How to Emerge From Trauma With Purpose” — details her experiences during the raid and amid the political firestorm that engulfed her in December 2020 when CBS2-TV aired video of the incident.
Young said she wrote the book to share how she coped with the trauma she experienced in an effort to help others.
“It is so important for people to understand what it means to experience trauma,” said Young, who also created The I AM HER Foundation in the wake of the raid.
Ald. Maria Hadden (49th Ward), the lead sponsor of the Anjanette Young ordinance, said she was hopeful at the start of 2025 that the measure was on its way to passage. Instead, Johnson never even formally introduced it, and there is no indication that will change.
“While I think they continue to work in good faith, there’s not been the kind of sustained effort that would get an ordinance passed,” Hadden said of the mayor’s office. “Or even bring it to a vote.”
During the 2023 mayoral election, Young endorsed Johnson after he vowed to “end no-knock warrants once and for all” in his campaign platform.
“I’m going to continue to work with the chief sponsor of that ordinance to see to it that we can pass something that can create, you know, more stronger reforms within our police department to ultimately create that bond and that trust that’s needed in order to drive violence down in Chicago,” Johnson said at a City Hall news conference Tuesday.
After Young’s home was raided, the federal court order known as the consent decree that requires CPD to change the way it trains, supervises and disciplines officers was expanded to include search warrants.
That launched years of negotiations between CPD’s leaders, city lawyers, the attorney general’s office and the coalition of police reform groups that sued the city to force it to agree to federal court oversight.
In May 2024, U.S. District Court Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer declined to ban officers from executing warrants to search for evidence of minor offenses, to ban officers from pointing guns at people during raids or to require that officers wait for a minimum amount of time before making forced entry into a home or apartment at the request of the coalition.
City lawyers and Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling fought those demands for more than four years.
CPD’s new search warrant policy includes a provision “acknowledging search warrants are a traumatic experience” and directs officers to exercise caution and use tactics designed “to minimize potential trauma and minimize intrusion and damage to homes and property.”
Unless it is an emergency, officers will only be allowed to serve warrants between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m., under the new policy.
Officers will also be required to “avoid handcuffing or intentionally pointing firearms at children unless reasonably necessary,” according to the new policy.
In addition, the new policy requires officers to knock and announce that they have a search warrant and give the residents “a reasonable opportunity to comply.”
Had that policy been in place in February 2019, Young would have had a chance to finish getting dressed after arriving home from work before officers burst into her apartment, looking for someone who did not live there.
The latest version of the ordinance supported by Young would require officers to wait at least 30 seconds before entering a home with a search warrant if they do not get an immediate response, but would not have banned no-knock warrants.
Since 2019, the number of homes searched by CPD dropped more than 83%, according to CPD data.
Officers served just 228 residential search warrants in 2025. In comparison, the department executed 1,382 search warrants in 2019.
Just two warrants served in 2025 were no-knock warrants, according to data provided to WTTW News after a Freedom of Information Act request.
Since 2019, CPD has served just 16 no-knock warrants, city data shows.
No-knock warrants, which allow officers to enter a home without first announcing their presence, must be approved by a deputy chief and can only be used in cases where there is a documented “danger to life or safety,” according to the policy.
Hadden said Johnson could issue an executive order at any time to ban no-knock warrants.
“I do think that is a good policy,” Hadden said.
Despite the failure of the ordinance that bears Young’s name to become law, Hadden said “Chicago is better” after Young’s efforts to make sure no one else is traumatized the same way she was nearly seven years ago.
“Miss Young can certainly hold her head high,” Hadden said. “We have made change.”
Read an excerpt from Young’s book below.
This Is Bigger Than Me
I know that my trauma will always be a part of me. I will never forget what it felt like to stand in my own home, naked and terrified, as officers pointed guns at me. I will never forget the powerlessness, the rage, the humiliation. But I have turned my pain into purpose.
Every time I speak out, every time I share my story, and every time I push for policy change, I am reclaiming my power.
My experience will not be reduced to just another statistic. I refuse to be a passive victim, silenced by trauma or overshadowed by bureaucracy. Instead, I have chosen to stand in my truth, to make sure my story is heard, and to fight for a future where no one else has to endure what I did.
Reprinted by permission of Lawrence Hill Books. Excerpted from Past the Pain: How to Emerge From Trauma With Purpose by Anjanette Young. Copyright 2026 Anjanette Young. All rights reserved.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
