Is it time to put an end to "no-knock" warrants?

Question

When the shooting stopped, two dogs lay dead. A mayor sat in his boxers, hands bound behind his back. His handcuffed mother-in-law was sprawled on the kitchen floor, lying beside the body of one of the family pets that police had killed before her eyes.

After the raid, Prince George's County police officials who burst into the home of Berwyn Heights' mayor last week seized the same unopened package of marijuana that an undercover officer had delivered an hour earlier.

What police left behind was a house stained with blood and a trail of questions about their conduct. No other evidence of illegal activity was found, and no one was arrested at Mayor Cheye Calvo's home in this small bedroom community near College Park.

This week Prince George's police arrested two men for orchestrating a plot to deliver marijuana to the addresses of unsuspecting recipients -- among them, Calvo's wife, Trinity Tomsic.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-mayor0807,0,4563211.story?page=1

Police gunned down 92 yr old Kathryn Johnston while serving a no-knock warrant. Thinking that her home was being broken into by neighborhood thugs, she mistakenly fired on police and was gunned down as a result.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1129/p03s03-ussc.html

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Beyond the fact that they should be unconstitutional, obviously too many innocent people are getting caught up in them. Drug informants are notoriously unreliable, why are police relying on them to gain and serve the warrants?

Answer 1

No-knock search warrants are only for the most dangerous searches. They are usually only performed when the suspects have a prior record of violence, or the undercover officers know the suspect it armed. Even on a no-knock, once the team is in (generally takes 15 seconds) they identify themselves as police, as well as wearing tactical gear with "POLICE" "SWAT" or "SHERIFFS DEPARTMENT" printed all over them. Also, what kind of dogs were they? I'm sure it wasnt a cute little puppy. Most likely an aggressive pitbull or other large aggressive dog. If the animal puts the officers life in danger, then it will be taken out. Same goes for people.  

Answer 2

Don't blame the process for bad police work.

Answer 3

Serving search warrants, the need for no knock warrants only comes into play 1 every 100.  It is up to the judge to decide if it is needed.  In this case, I would have to read the warrant in regards to threats, etc...Without all the facts it is hard to decide.  The no knock is a useful tool for high risk, violent offenders to catch them off guard so we don't lose our life...

Answer 4

Let's see was it Reagan that started the "War on Drugs" a complete failure. At least they learned a lot faster in the 1930s what a disaster prohibition is.

Answer 5

Yes especially on cases like this where the COPS deliver drugs to your house and the SWAT team awaits for the package to be brought into your home and then attack guns a blazing.