'Knock, knock.' 'Who's there?'

Jeannine Heinecke
Created:

Having the ability to choose whether or not to knock when serving a warrant is no laughing matter


Kimm notes that at the Salinas PD, depending on the circumstances, they will instead secure a perimeter, evacuate residents around the perimeter and try to negotiate the suspect out versus forcing a shoot out. DiFranza also recommends rouse and compliant entries as other options.

"The question I always ask the investigators in the case is how much dope is worth somebody getting hurt?" questions Kimm. "In my opinion, there is no amount."

Gnagey agrees the dangers to the officers must be extreme and the evidence or people to be secured endangered.

"If you need a high-risk, no-knock warrant to recover three rocks of crack cocaine to make a narcotic officer's case, then advise him to go out and work the case some more, because we are not going to risk our officers' lives and the lives of innocent bystanders for three rocks," says Gnagey.

No-knock warrants are an essential piece of the tactical arsenal, but they must be used judiciously.

"Just because the court has given you the authority to perform a no-knock doesn't mean you have to use it," says Gnagey. "If you get over zealous with these things and use them when you shouldn't, then the court may take that privilege away from everyone, and law enforcement doesn't want that."

Officers and tactical team leaders need to do what they can to make sure the next time they knock on the door, the answer to "Who's there?" is only the three-strike candidate and not the scared grandmother defending her home.

The little things
Greg DiFranza, tactical enforcement unit coordinator for the Institute of Police Technology and Management offers the following basic tips for any high-risk warrant service.

Don't rush. When the adrenaline is pumping and the team commander gives the signal, it's hard not to simply rush inside and let reflex rule your actions. "You need to move at a pace where you can still do things, such as shoot or put the gun away and use both your hands to take care of people," cautions DiFranza.

Muzzle control. Officers need to make sure that their weapon is pointed in the appropriate direction — not at a fellow officer's back or in the same direction as another officer. "It has to just cover the spot that hasn't been covered by everyone else," he says.

Breathe. Stress reduction breathing helps officers perform better and make better decisions to accomplish the goal.

"If you don't do the little things, then it doesn't matter how many good big things you do," notes DiFranza. "The operation can fail."

Relaxed punishment for illegal no-knocks
In June 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court released its ruling on the Hudson v. Michigan case stating that the Constitution does not require the government to forfeit evidence gathered under illegal no-knock searches. Citing increased professionalism by law enforcement and alternative deterrents, such as administrative discipline and civil lawsuits, Justice Antonin Scalia wrote on behalf of the 5-4 majority stating that the traditional punishment for police violation of the "knock-and-announce" rule — barring the use of seized evidence at trial — is no longer required.

"The cost of entering this lottery would be small, but the jackpot enormous: suppression of all evidence, amounting in many cases to a get-out-of-jail-free card," writes Scalia.

In 1995, the Supreme Court made the "knock-and-announce" rule part of what defines a "reasonable search" under the Fourth Amendment, without specifying how it should be enforced. Previous to the Hudson v. Michigan ruling, in many jurisdictions, police serving search warrants had to worry that they may lose a case if they did not knock, announce and wait the prescribed 30 seconds before entering.

"We want to support the Fourth Amendment, but by the same token, you have to split the difference in law enforcement between protecting the Constitution and its application in the street," says Greg DiFranza, tactical enforcement unit coordinator for the Institute of Police Technology and Management. "For the most part, officers want to do it the right way, but by the same token, we see a different danger side than the people who actually draft and sign these warrants."