The following statement can be attributed to Nusrat Choudhury, Legal Director, ACLU of Illinois:
“In a Friday afternoon media release, the Chicago Police Department today announced a new policy relating to police raids on the wrong homes. This widespread problem was brought into sharp relief by the video of the raid on the home of Anjanette Young, a Black social worker, who was held naked at gunpoint by numerous Chicago police officers.
We look forward to reviewing this policy in detail and to speaking with community allies from across the City to gather their input. But once again, the City failed to meaningfully engage with impacted communities in the process of creating this new policy.
Black and brown residents across Chicago have been victims of wrong raids, and unnecessarily violent raids, for years. But the City’s principal means of engaging with these communities was to post this policy on the CPD online portal for written comments - not to meet with community organizations whose members have been impacted by wrong raids. Community voices deserve to be heard if CPD is truly committed to ensuring that no one is subjected to the humiliation and trauma that results when police break down doors to enter into homes and hold people, including children, at gunpoint.
Police reform is not simply checking a box after a horrific incident is exposed for public view by pushing through a new policy. It is hard work that begins with learning from affected communities where police have gone wrong.
The policy that CPD issued today was an opportunity to begin this healing. Once again, the city has failed to meet the moment.”
