Legislative Memo: Police Use of No-Knock Warrants

No-knock and quick-knock warrants and raids have severe and deadly consequences for communities targeted by aggressive over-policing. Under a no-knock warrant, police can barge into a person’s home in the dead of night without any notice and without clearly identifying themselves as law enforcement. As law enforcement has become more and more militarized, police departments have used battering rams to force entry into homes and thrown flash-bang grenades that – beyond contributing to panic and confusion – can cause severe burns and even death.

The legislature can close this particularly devastating chapter in the racist war on drugs by passing S.4820 (Sanders) / A.4369 (O’Donnell) to sharply limit the use of no-knock warrants and end the hypermilitarized raids that have far too often led to deadly consequences, particularly in communities of color which have been the main target in the drug war.