Urgent Changes To Search Warrant Rules Needed: Chicago Watchdog

CHICAGO — The city's independent watchdog on Friday recommended immediate changes to the police department's policy on executing search warrants "in light of the urgent need to prevent serious harm to Chicagoans."

Chicago's inspector general released preliminary findings of an ongoing probe of how police verify addresses before executing search warrants like the "wrong raid" of social worker Anjanette Young's home in 2019 that police video showed officers handcuffed her naked while looking for a wanted person who didn't live there.

Last month, CBS2 was first to broadcast video of the raid that City Hall lawyers fought to keep secret. The video went viral and led to an emotional apology from Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who called for sweeping changes to public access to police videos and an overhaul of how police execute search warrants.

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So far, the inspector general's investigation found lacking protocols for how the police department is required to corroborate information when seeking a search warrant, and limited circumstances that require for the department to launch an investigation when executing a search warrant goes wrong.

The inspector general's office called on police Supt. David Brown to "require verification and corroboration of information in all circumstances and broaden the circumstances in which supervisors must initiate an investigation to determine whether discipline is necessary and appropriate when a search warrant is erroneous in fact or execution," according to a statement.

Brown, in a statement, said the police department's policies “should be amended to require a CPD member investigate and verify the information used to substantiate a search warrant.” He also said he “intends to amend its order to expand the circumstances where officers are required to open a [disciplinary] investigation."