Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) introduced legislation last week that would end the use of no-knock warrants, a battle Campaign for Liberty has been waging for years at the state level.
Senator Paul’s bill (S.3955), the “Justice for Breonna Taylor Act,” would end violent, unannounced entry of a suspect’s home by federal law enforcement officials, and it would ban no-knock warrants by state and local police that receive federal money.
Breonna Taylor was an innocent victim of a no-knock raid in Louisville, KY in March of 2020. She was an Emergency Medical Technician in Louisville. The actual target of the investigation had dated Ms. Taylor at one time and was being investigated for allegedly selling controlled substances from a drug house over 10 miles away from her home. Ms. Taylor’s boyfriend, who was licensed to carry a firearm, shot first after mistaking the police as criminal invaders. In the end, Ms. Taylor was shot eight times and died at the scene.
Sadly, this is not a unique situation. There are literally thousands of other stories like these, dating back to the ’70s when no-knock raids first came on the scene in the U.S.
Initially, the tactic was used only in extreme situations, such as active shooter scenarios or hostage situations. Today, between 80-90% of these raids occur merely to serve a search warrant for suspects of non-violent crimes. According to one study, up to 65% of these raids conclude with “no contraband of any kind” being found. And there is no way of knowing the exact statistics of the raids, since law enforcement agencies regularly refuse public records requests, “either in full or in part.”
No-knock raids have been banned by civilized society since 1604. Many state laws require law enforcement to announce themselves prior to conducting any raid or executing a search warrant. Yet, in at least 65% of SWAT deployments, violent entry is made after a light tap on the door fails to elicit an immediate response, oftentimes in the dark of night while families are sleeping inside.
There are far too many stories to mention of “informants” giving false information or police misconduct that resulted in damaged or destroyed property at best and injuries or death of innocent people and family pets at worst.
Dogs – even when they are chained or kenneled – are routinely shot in these encounters.
It is long past time to ban this practice.
Please contact your U.S. Senators and Representative at (202) 224-
Print 
PDFTags: No-knock warrants, Breonna Taylor, Senator Rand Paul