Politics

Brandon Johnson Picks Anjanette Young for CPD Oversight Board

Mayor Brandon Johnson nominated Anjanette Young, a social worker who was handcuffed while naked during a botched 2019 Chicago Police Department raid, on Thursday to serve on the city’s police oversight board.

Young has worked for more than six years to force CPD to change the way it uses search warrants after a political firestorm erupted in December 2020 when footage of the raid become public.

Johnson also nominated Angelique Guzman to serve on the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability, better known as the CCPSA. Guzman is a senior at Mather High School on the North Side and an intern in the office of Ald. Andre Vasquez (40th Ward).

“The CCPSA is a cornerstone of our vision for a safer, more just Chicago,” Johnson said in a statement. “It reflects our commitment to ensuring that public safety is shaped not just by policy, but by the voices and lived experiences of the people we serve. With leaders like Angelique Guzman and Anjanette Young, we are ensuring that this work is grounded in community voice, lived experience, and a shared commitment to transparency, accountability and equity.”

If confirmed by the Chicago City Council, Young and Guzman would serve on the seven-member commission, which oversees the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, the Chicago Police Board and has the power to set CPD policy.

Young, who endorsed Johnson in the 2023 mayoral race, has urged CPD to ban no-knock warrants, require officers to wait at least 30 seconds before entering a home with a warrant and prohibit officers from pointing guns at children. Young lives on the South Side.

Young urged state lawmakers earlier this week to change state law to impose those restrictions on all Illinois police departments.

While CPD has significantly changed its search warrant policy since 2020, police brass have refused to make those changes. In December 2021, taxpayers paid $2.9 million to resolve the lawsuit Young filed against the city.

An effort by the City Council to pass an ordinance named for Young that would impose more restrictions remains stalled.

The commission, known as the CCPSA, does not have the authority to change CPD’s search warrant policies, since that issue is covered by the federal court order known as the consent decree, which requires CPD to change the way it trains, supervises and disciplines officers.

Johnson did not name any of the other nominees to replace a third CCPSA commissioner.

City records show the terms of Commissioners Aaron Gottlieb, Abierre Minor and Angel Rubi Navarijo expire on June 23.

A statement from the mayor’s office said “another Commissioner’s term will expire in October,” contradicting those records.

“Mayor Johnson will advise on a decision regarding this vacancy in the near future,” according to the statement from his office.

A spokesperson for the mayor said that since Rubi Navarijo was not confirmed by the City Council until September 2024, his term did not begin until October 2024 and will expire in October 2026. That delay was caused by questions from alderpeople about whether Rubi Navarijo should be a commissioner at the same time he served as director of constituent services for Ald. Leni Manaa-Hoppenworth (48th Ward). 

Adam Gross, the executive director of the CCPSA confirmed that Rubi Navarijo’s term expires in October, despite the city’s official record.

Gottlieb represented the North Side on the commission, while Minor represented the South Side and served as a youth representative. Navarijo also represented the North Side and served as a youth representative.

Two of Johnson’s picks for the three seats set to become vacant must be between the ages of 18 and 24, according to the commission’s rules. Another must represent the North Side.

That means Johnson must pick another youth representative for the board.

More than 50 applications for the three vacant CCPSA seats were reviewed by a 22-member nominating committee, made up of one elected police district council member from each of Chicago’s 22 police districts, officials said.

The committee selected two nominees for each seat, officials said.

Those nominations did not include Minor, who applied to continue serving on the board.

Minor alleged she was not selected as a nominee after interference from a former member of the Chicago Police Department working on behalf of the Fraternal Order of Police, the city’s largest police union.

Morgan Park (22nd) Police District Councilor Lee Bielecki, who served on the nominating committee, acknowledged that he went to Minor’s apartment building and asked a building employee to verify that she lived there. Bielecki said he wanted to confirm that Minor met a residential eligibility requirement for a commission seat.

That violated the nominating committee’s rules, according to a statement from a CCPSA spokesperson. Bielecki resigned from the nominating committee the next day, according to the statement.

“Councilor Bielecki’s inappropriate and unsanctioned actions did not have any effect on the final result,” according to the CCPSA statement. “The Nominating Committee extended Commissioner Minor an interview and gave her application full consideration. In the end, Commissioner Minor did not have the support of two-thirds of the Nominating Committee — 15 of 22 members — required by city ordinance for nomination.”

The Nominating Committee selected Young and Rebecca Levin to replace Minor, with the mayor tapping Young, according to the CCPSA.

Levin is vice president of policy at Treatment Alternatives for Stronger Communities, which helps those who have substance abuse disorders navigate the criminal justice system.

Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]

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