Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) is trying to start the conversation with a new bill called Locke, which would severely restrict the use of no-strike warrants in drug-related investigations. The infant, Bounkham Phonesavanh (or “Baby Bou Bou”), was put into a medically induced coma and required a series of surgeries that cost more than a million dollars. He was the subject of a lawsuit against the police department to pay the medical bills. The legal case argued that the children`s toys, including a plastic children`s pool, were in the yard and that the packaging of the park where the baby was sleeping was next to the door that the police had broken through. The prosecution claimed that the police were “manifestly incompetent” because they did not know there was a child in the room. Criminal justice experts estimate that police conduct tens of thousands of raids without hitting in the United States each year. Those who defend the tactics say the majority of raids do not result in injury and are likely to prevent violence and preserve evidence that would otherwise have been destroyed. But critics say the risks outweigh the benefits and are often not worth the amount of drugs recovered. Amid nationwide protests in response to the police killings of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, there have been numerous calls to end arrest warrants without a strike.

[2] Critics argue that no-strike warrants tend to lead to the lethal use of force by police and the death of innocent people. [2] No-strike warrants are also contrary to the right to self-defense, stand-your-ground laws, and castle doctrine, which explicitly authorize the use of lethal force against invaders. [2] On May 27, 2014, a police informant in Cornelia, Georgia, claimed that he had purchased $50 worth of methamphetamine from Wanis Thonetheva, a 30-year-old merchant at a residence of Amanda Thonetheva, his mother. The dealer did not live in the house, which contained no drugs or weapons, although a family with four young children lived there. [15] Sheriff`s Deputy Nikki Autry obtained a warrant for arrest without knocking after waking up a district judge at her home and giving him inaccurate affidavits. [3] Indiscriminate raids, considered one of the most dangerous and intrusive police tactics, have been the subject of debate in recent years over the use of force by police. Police carried out a raid without a knock at 2:25 a.m. on May 28, during which a SWAT team broke into a door with a battering ram and threw a flash grenade into a room where a 19-month-old child was. From 2010 to 2016, at least 81 civilians and 13 officers died in SWAT raids, including 31 civilians and eight officers during the execution of arrest warrants. [3] Half of the civilians killed belonged to a minority.

[3] Of those affected by the SWAT search warrants, 42% are Black and 12% are Hispanic. [3] Since 2011, at least seven federal lawsuits against public servants executing warrants without a sure shot have been settled for more than $1 million. [3] No-strike warrants are controversial for a variety of reasons. There have been cases where burglars have stolen homes posing as officers with a no-strike warrant. There have been many cases where armed owners who thought they were being ambushed shot at police officers, resulting in death on both sides. While it is legal to shoot an owner`s dog when an officer fears for his or her life, there have been many high-profile cases of shooting pets that did not have the size, strength, or behavior to attack officers, greatly increasing the risk of additional casualties in nearby homes due to penetrating bullets. [14] To be clear, Locke`s death should not have happened. We didn`t need another awakening in the form of a senseless civilian death by law enforcement to know that it`s high time to ban arrest warrants without a strike and curb the widespread violations of individual freedoms caused by excessive policing in communities of color. In addition, a 2014 report by the American Civil Liberties Union on the militarization of the police found that 42 percent of indiscriminate raids targeted blacks and 12 percent against Latinos.

Opponents of the ban on no-strike raids include police unions, whose leaders argue that the element of surprise is safer for police officers. Proponents of the bans say officials are at higher risk if they operate covertly. But according to a Washington Post investigation, at least 22 people have been killed since 2015, including Amir Locke and Breonna Taylor, while police have executed search warrants without hitting. Minneapolis police were looking for others involved in a murder investigation and issued a search warrant when they killed Amir Locke in February. Louisville police killed Breonna Taylor in 2020 during a drug investigation involving her ex-boyfriend. The police later claimed that they had beaten and announced themselves. In the United States, a restraining warrant is a warrant issued by a judge that allows law enforcement to enter a property without immediate notice to residents, such as by knocking or ringing the doorbell. In most cases, law enforcement will identify themselves just before forcibly entering the property. It is issued in the belief that any evidence they hope to find can be destroyed between the moment the police identify themselves and the moment they secure the area, or in the event that there is a major threat to the safety of the officers during the execution of the arrest warrant. Currently, Florida, Oregon, Tennessee and Virginia prohibit no-hit warrants; However, state-level prohibitions do not affect federal law enforcement.

Thirteen states have laws that explicitly authorize no-strike warrants, and the other states issue them at the discretion of a judge. [1] While this difficult undertaking will take some time, the no-strike mandates are fruits within reach in this debate and must be addressed without further delay. The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which would effectively ban the use of no-strike warrants in federal drug raids, has stalled in Congress. The bill passed the House of Representatives in 2021, but was not put to a vote in the Senate, where bipartisan negotiations broke down in September. The 1963 Supreme Court decision Ker v. California has set a precedent in favor of forced police entry with drugs, out of fear that evidence will be destroyed. [1] In Wilson v. Arkansas (1995), the Court created an exception to prevent the destruction of evidence. Richard v.

Wisconsin sought to add more clarity in 1997 by allowing zero-strike searches when police “have reasonable grounds to suspect that striking and announcing their presence in particular circumstances would be dangerous or unnecessary, or that it would impede the effective investigation of the crime, for example by allowing the destruction of evidence.”. according to the decision. [1] The 1995 and 1997 judgments left local and state judges a great deal of latitude to decide, which constitutes “reasonable suspicion.” [1] Gov. Jay Inslee has signed 12 bills that include a ban on chokeholds and warrants to ban hitting, making Washington the latest state to pass sweeping police reforms. Following the Shooting of Breonna Taylor (March 2020) and subsequent protests (May-June 2020) against George Floyd, the Louisville Subway Council voted unanimously on June 11, 2020 for the “Breonna Act,” a ban on warrants prohibiting hitting in Louisville, Kentucky. [11] The State of Kentucky has restricted, but not banned, their use in a law signed on April 9, 2020. [12] Minneapolis is a perfect example of the failure of efforts to reform no-strike warrants. Before his re-election, the city`s mayor, Jacob Frey, touted the ban on strike bans as one of his achievements. But Locke`s death, which was not the subject of the arrest warrant that led police to his door, forced Frey to admit that his alleged ban simply required police to announce his presence before entering a private residence.

The Post received evidence and other documents for 13 of the deadly raids: in 12 cases, officers together seized less than three pounds of illegal drugs — including marijuana, heroin, and mushrooms. Laws that affect law enforcement and local government public safety appear to be evolving rapidly and may continue to change in the future. For this reason, it is essential to work closely with law enforcement, legal counsel, and the WSCJTC to keep policies and training up to date. Federal judges and judges can legally and constitutionally issue restraining warrants if the circumstances warrant a smooth entry, and federal criminal prosecutors can legally apply for such warrants in such circumstances.