On Wednesday, Chicago City Council members voted to advance two nominees for the city’s civilian police oversight board. The council’s police and fire committee voted to affirm Mayor Brandon Johnson’s selections to the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA), which include Angelique Guzman and Anjanette Young.
Guzman is a senior at Mather High School, where she serves as class vice president. She is also the president of the North River Commission’s Youth Council.
“I believe that youth voices need to be a part of the decisions, not just represented, because we bring a perspective that is often missing,” Guzman said during today’s hearing. “We experience these issues in real time in our schools and our neighborhoods, and can help identify gaps in how policies impact young people.”
Today’s action paves the way for a final vote by the Chicago City Council later this month.
Young is a South Side resident and licensed clinical social worker, clinician, and community advocate. For the last seven years, her life’s work has centered on demanding justice not only for herself, but also for others who have been traumatized by police after her home was wrongfully raided in 2019.
“I’ve come before you today with both professional expertise and lived experience,” Young said. “In 2019, I was the victim of a wrongful police raid carried out by the Chicago Police Department. “That moment was very traumatizing. It was violating. It was life-altering, but it did not break me.”
She’s also been an advocate for police reform and the Chicago Police Department’s no-knock policy.
“It actually shaped my purpose. It gave me a first-hand understanding of what happens when systems fail our community,” Young continued. “It strengthened my resolve to help rebuild trust between the community and law enforcement through meaningful, lasting change.”
Throughout the hearing, several alders praised Young and Guzman, with many uplifting Young for her steadfast resilience and for answering the call to public service.
“You all are qualified more than what paper can ever describe, and your commitment, through heart and character, is what we continue to need in Chicago,” Ald. William Hall (6th Ward) said. “Thank you for your commitment to bettering our city. Moreover, thank you for having the heart to do it. And I want to say to my sister, Anjanette [Young], I’m so grateful for your heart that, while it was broken, you have shown us the power of life beyond the brokenness.”
Not all alders were in agreement on the nomination process for the CCPSA; Ald. Silvana Tabares lobbed a series of questions and police officer deaths and statistics at Young and was also critical of the civilian police oversight board. She said Young’s comments to WTTW on the Dexter Reed case demonstrate that she can’t be an objective member of the board.
Chicago police officers killed Reed during a traffic stop on the West Side in 2024. Young called the shooting excessive in an interview with WTTW.
“You’re before the committee today seeking an appointment to a commission born out of the same movement that also saw the skyrocketing of attacks on police,” Tabares said, referring to the George Floyd movement in 2020. “Since the creation of the CCPSA, the commission has mostly pushed efforts to restrict officers, despite data showing more violence is done to officers, not by officers; we have avenues to report police misconduct, and officers are still being disciplined when necessary.”
Young was not allowed to respond to Tabares’ questions. Ald. Anthony Napolitano (41st Ward) echoed Tabares’ sentiments and called for the CCPSA to be abolished.
“This entire group, this entire CCPSA, is a farce,” he said. “I think it’s an absolute waste of money, and I don’t want to take it away from you that you are all volunteering your time because you stepped up to do it, but it’s a waste of $4.3 million.”
The commission came from a decades-long campaign for civilian oversight of the Chicago Police Department, led by the Empowering Communities for Public Safety (ECPS) coalition. The coalition includes more than 100 community organizations.
“We should have created the community commission for community Accountability, Napolitano continued. “That’s what we’re missing for community accountability. We’re missing the accountability for over 25,000 people shot in the streets.”
Notably, the commission nominated Larry Snelling as the new CPD superintendent, eliminated the department’s gang database, and held public hearings on ShotSpotter and pretextual traffic stops, and most recently, held a special meeting with CPD Supt. Larry Snelling, where frustrated Chicago residents aired their grievances over its conduct during the Trump administration’s so-called “Midway Blitz” operation last fall.
The final vote count for Guzman’s appointment was 13-3 and 14-2 for Young. The matter will be voted on for a final time at the next full City Council meeting on May 20.
