USA TODAY International Edition
Just limiting no- knock warrants isn't enough
Long before Breonna Taylor’s death in a botched drug raid last year ignited a national debate over the deadly practice of using no- knock warrants, plenty of innocent people had already been killed during these reckless police maneuvers.
No- knock warrants, which allow police to break down doors without knocking or identifying themselves, are especially dangerous to civilians: At least 31 were killed from 2010 through 2016. But they also can be deadly for police, eight of whom were killed in that period.
Equally tragic are the life- changing injuries suffered by a 19- month- old, nicknamed Baby Bou Bou, who was critically wounded when a flashbang grenade, used to momentarily blind suspects, was thrown into a house and hit the baby’s playpen.
Were police seeking a dangerous drug lord?
No, they were after a suspect who sold $ 50 worth of methamphetamine to informants in front of the home in tiny Cornelia, Georgia, a few hours before the 2: 15 a. m. raid in 2014, according to a New York Times investigation. The baby, Bounkham Phonesavanh endured more than 15 operations over the next few years. Police found no drugs and no drug dealer. The suspect, the baby’s cousin, no longer lived at that address.
With such a history of mayhem, noknock raids have far outlived whatever usefulness they might have served. And now, because of the shooting of Taylor, a 26- year- old Black emergency room technician in Louisville, Kentucky, followed by George Floyd’s murder and a string of unarmed Black men and women killed by police, banning no- knock raids is part of the campaign for police reform and racial justice.
No- knock warrants were born with the start of the war on drugs in the 1970s, sought by police to stop suspects from assaulting officers or disposing of evidence before police could seize it. A few thousand were conducted annually in the 1980s. That number exploded to an estimated 60,000 by 2010, including so- called quick- knock raids, where police knock, announce and almost simultaneously break in.
The increase occurred as the Supreme Court eroded the Fourth Amendment guarantee against unreasonable searches, which required police to knock and announce themselves before entering a home. A 1995 ruling opened the door to exceptions, and exceptions then swallowed the rule. The final safeguard was cast aside in 2006 when the court ruled 5- 4 that evidence found when police fail to knock and announce can be used in prosecutions.
Neither the federal government nor states keep official track of no- knock warrants or the deaths that occur.
The toll includes a 7- year- old Detroit girl who was accidentally shot in the head during a raid seeking a murder suspect, later found in the apartment upstairs.
Mistakes too often are the result of sloppy police work. In February, Bianca Mathias and her 12- year- old daughter were terrified when Minneapolis police broke into their townhouse in the predawn hours looking for a robbery suspect. The suspect hadn’t lived there for at least 10 months, and his current address was available in court records. The Minneapolis mayor apologized to the family, and an internal police investigation is underway.
But the most grievous errors can’t be investigated away.
When plainclothes police burst into Breonna Taylor’s apartment after midnight in March 2020, her boyfriend feared it was an intruder and fired a single shot. Police responded with 32 rounds, killing Taylor. She had no record of drug charges or violence, and no drugs were found in her apartment.
One police officer, accused of failing to be truthful in his warrant application, has been fired. He lost his job; Taylor lost her life.
Law enforcement has had more than four decades to use no- knock warrants strategically and safely, and they’ve failed too often.
New laws are needed. Limits on noknock warrants, passed in recent months by 15 states and 18 cities, are a start, but not enough. Only a handful ban no- knock warrants, and even that strong action may not end these dangerous raids. With a regular knockand- announce warrant, police could knock, say “Police,” wait a few seconds and break through doors – not much of a difference.
Mandates, such as requiring police to wear uniforms and body cameras, wait at least 20 seconds between knocking and entering, and conduct raids during daylight hours, are needed to keep the public safe. New laws in Maine and Maryland have some of those mandates.
This is a pivotal moment. Weak changes masquerading as real protection against no- knock raids will not ensure that no more innocents like Taylor are killed.
Mandates – such as requiring police to wear uniforms and body cameras, wait at least 20 seconds between knocking and entering, and conduct raids during daylight hours – are needed.