Policing 101 - No No-Knock Warrants

I would like to begin with a disclaimer. I am not now or ever been in law enforcement. I have never been trained in any form of law enforcement. The closest I have ever been in law enforcement was being employed several times as a security guard. Guard. Not officer. I consider the difference is one can carry a firearm. That's what makes you an officer. Anybody else is a wannabe cop. Yes. I was a wannabe cop not because I wanted to be a cop, but because most of the times I sat on my ass and did my college homework or years later I walked around a mall and flirted with all the lady shopkeepers. However, I have common sense. And part of being in law enforcement is not just training, stamina, strength and whatever else they teach you at the academy; it's common sense.

Today's lecture is about No-knock warrants. These things are bad. Specifically, when the adrenaline-filled individuals with a battering ram all geared up for a fight are at the door. Your door. The wrong door. Someone innocent or at least not the person or persons they're looking for could get hurt or worse, killed, as in the case of Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky. She's not the first unnecessary death. And if they don't ban this practice will not be the last.

The cause for this warrant was they were trying to capture a drug dealer. However, the drug dealer was already in custody taken at a different address. Another case of the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. Unless there was imminent danger for the officers serving the search warrant, there was no need for such militaristic tactics. Our war on drugs which has been fought for at least 50 years is a waste of tax payers' money and has done little to stop the trafficking or taking of drugs. Truthfully, the drug epidemic is not in the streets as much as the local pharmacies where most of the drugs that are being abused is coming by way of legal means. That's the real crime.

After the smashing in of Taylor's and her boyfriend's door, gunfire was exchanged as the boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, who had a legal weapon, thought it was a home invasion and answered accordingly. The police answered back obviously outnumbering and outgunning Walker. Unfortunately, their bullets found her and not the boyfriend. She was unarmed and had been asleep.

From what has been documented, there wasn't a dire need for a no-knock warrant. Or for it to be served after midnight. It was extreme and unnecessary. We're not talking about a terrorist group or a kidnapping or any other scenario involving a life or death situation. It was a weak-ass drug bust.

Part of this I blame the judge who signed the order. In many cases they have but a few minutes to decide. If they're not told the whole story or if they're told only what the cops want them to hear to obtain the warrant, they could be signing an unnecessary death warrant for yet another innocent victim of police machismo. I believe these cases often come down to that too. Someone wanting to make a name for themselves. Get the big, bad drug dealer or criminal or the arch villain off the street. It sounds admirable but to what cost. 

The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution as part of the Bill of Rights was supposed to guarantee this for all citizens. See next paragraph. But as it has happened so many times, the  police seem to be allowed to usurp this Constitutional right by using what is best in the public's interest. 

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized." Taken from the Constitution. Probably cause. There are but a few items I see that would fit probable cause.

1. Witnesses seeing illegal activity involving possible harm to others (kidnap, rape, murder)
2. Militaristic activity (Terrorism/Insurrection)

I don't view drug dealing a necessary use of force unless the individuals are known to have weapons and have a history of violence. I don't think the police knew what they were up against. In these days where innocent people are preyed upon by the animals who rob, rape, steal and murder for profit and/or pleasure, people are arming themselves. I don't blame them. If I was positive that I wouldn't accidentally shoot myself, I'd buy a gun. My weapon of choice for home defense is a kid sized baseball bat. It's more a club. It's not a match against a gun or several guns from police who kick-in your door in the middle of the night. I'm having a sense of Déjà vu. I think I've written about this before. #All Lives (Or No Lives) Matter. I wrote that four years ago. Nothing has changed. It's been 155 years since the Civil War ended and a few years longer since slaves were given their justified freedom. However, shit is still the same. 

Would the police requested a no-knock warrant if they were a bunch of college frat boys selling drugs? And you know you dudes do. Don't lie about it. There's no denial that police, even black officers, are harsher in black neighborhoods than in white neighborhoods, even the poorer ones. 

Which is why it was easy to obtain a no-knock warrant for the Taylor/Walker residence. It's a known high crime neighborhood. However, not every citizen in that neighborhood is a criminal. In most of these neighborhoods are hard working or at least mostly working individuals trying to eek out a living like the rest of us.

No-knock warrants started shortly after Nixon (1970s) was elected. (Another stellar Republican.) It was established on a Federal level but was as effective then as it is now. Its purpose was primarily for use on drug raids. It lead to some arrests but as many innocent police killings. It was repealed a few years later to only be brought back in the 1980s. (Again, another stellar Republican in the White House.) The Supreme Court even weighed in on this in 1997 not in favor of no-knock drug warrants. 

Any way you look at it: Anytime someone (anyone) busts in your door it violates your fourth amendment rights. This is some serious shit. And it always seems to happen more on a Republican President's or Republican majority Congress' watch. If any party leans more toward an autocracy, it's that one. Goose stepping, brown shirt wearing, black jackboot wearing Fascist-Nazis.

We know no-knock warrants have detrimental effects. Another example is when Ismael Mena was killed on September 29, 1999 in Denver, Colorado when police with a no-knock warrant broke down his door and shot and killed him to search for drugs that were never found. And this doesn't always have negative effects on just innocent citizens, it works adversely for the police too.

In December 2013, Henry Magee shot and killed a police officer during a pre-dawn, no-knock drug raid on his home. He was initially charged with capital murder, but he argued that he shot the police officer, who he thought was an intruder, to protect his pregnant girlfriend. In February 2014, a grand jury declined to indict him, and charges were dropped. [Vox, Dara Lind, 5/15/2015] 

Here are some other No-knock drug related raid tragedies:

1. Kathryn Johnston, 92; Atlanta, Georgia, 2006-thought the police were intruders. Defended herself with her gun but was outgunned.
2. Tarika Wilson, 26; Lima, Ohio, 2008-was unarmed and holding her baby. Her boyfriend was the drug dealer they were looking for. Her family was awarded $2.5 million. 
3. The Rev. Accelyne Williams, 75; Boston, 1994-suffered a heart attack and died when police entered the wrong apartment looking for a suspected drug dealer.
4. Annie Rae Dixon, 84; Tyler, Texas, 1992-was accidentally shot by an officer looking to arrest her granddaughter.
5. Mario Paz, 64; El Monte, California, 1999-a case of the police not doing due diligence. They raided the Paz home because the suspected drug dealer had once used the Paz address to receive mail when he actually lived next door.
6. Alberta Spruill, 57; New York City, 2003-busted in based on bad information. Threw a concussion grenade which caused the NYC city worker a heart attack that killed him.
7. Pedro Oregon Navarro, 22; Houston, Texas, 1998-like Spruill above was based on unreliable intel that an unarmed, innocent man was shot 22 times, murdered by the police.

Everyone of these and many others could have been prevented if no-knock raids were not allowed. Police forces should not be allowed to use militaristic methods. There are times where SWAT is needed (Bank robberies, terror attacks, lunatics with automatic weapons). In most cases, drug raids do not require force, especially small time dealers.

It's been calculated that police use no-knock warrants/raids on an average of 20,000 times or more a year. That's a lot of usurping of the fourth amendment. I'm all for keeping our communities safe, but to what extent are we willing to give up our rights. You may say, "Well, it's the bad guys they're going after." Really? How bad was Breonna Taylor? Or Ismael Mena? These were individuals who had no criminal history in America and were minding their own business. 

What's your opinion on wrong addresses? How about mistaken identities? These are all things that could be cleared up with a simple knock on the door and verifying they've got the correct culprit. Without that, chaos and destruction reigns. 

There's a British Television drama, Line of Duty, in its premier episode showed how dangerous and bad a no-knock warrant is. The police did not reconnoiter before attempting the bust. What happened is the the address was wrong. Right building. Wrong apartment. They were to enter and arrest/stop the occupants in flat 56 who were believed to have been a terrorist group with a bomb. The problem was the 6 was a 9 that had lost its top nail. It looked like 56 but was actually 59. The no-knock raid netted nothing more than a husband and father being shot to death, leaving behind a widow and an infant without a father. Based on any true story, maybe. Don't know. Don't care. Fiction often resembles life.

No-knock warrants must go. They kill on both sides of the line: Public and police. 

From time to time I write critical posts about our government and police. I do this because if we don't speak up, we will be condemned to live our lives in chaos or worse, fear. Until next time, TTFN.