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New Policy Proposals Emerge For No-Knock Warrants In Minneapolis

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (WCCO) -- Following the death of Amir Locke, who was shot three times and killed by Minneapolis Police Officer Mark Hanneman during a no-knock raid Wednesday, the city says it will revisit its policy surrounding the search warrants.

Mayor Jacob Frey announced the city's plans to partner with DeRay Mckesson, an activist with national influence and co-founder of Campaign Zero. Mckesson, who once worked for Minneapolis Public Schools, now advises cities in crafting policies that minimize the use of no-knock warrants.

"This was avoidable," Mckesson said while discussing the moments leading to Locke's death. "There were different decisions that could have been made to get whatever information they thought they were seeking."

The city is also working with Dr. Pete Kraska, a professor of police studies at Eastern Kentucky University. Following Breonna Taylor's death during a no-knock raid by Louisville Police in 2020, Kraska worked with city leaders to create "Breonna's Law" in Louisville.

"[No-knock raids] weren't done in U.S. policing very much at all until the late 1990s drug war," Kraska said in a phone interview Sunday. "It was extremely rare for police to do a no-knock entry into people's private residences."

Even rarer, Kraska says, is the use of no-knock warrants during a homicide investigation -- estimating 5% of all no-knock warrants nationally in 2021 were linked to police investigating a homicide.

No Knock Warrants - Amir Locke
A SWAT team member unlocks the apartment door seconds before Amir Locke's fatal shooting (credit: City of Minneapolis)

"Are there extreme circumstances that might warrant it? Absolutely," he said. "There may be a human trafficking situation, there may be a serial rapist situation where the only option the police have is to conduct a no-knock warrant."

Both Mckesson and Kraska worked to craft a multi-point proposal for city leaders. Main changes of the proposal include limiting the use of no-knock warrants to emergency situations, limiting the time of day no-knock warrants can be executed, eliminating the use of flash bangs and other items during raids, and increasing the amount of paperwork police would have to complete in order to request a no-knock warrant.

Another major change, one Mckesson says could have made a difference in Amir Locke's case, would be requiring officers to wait 30 seconds after announcing their presence to enter someone's home.

"The vast majority of people, if they see a group of police officers outside, they will comply with the request," Mckesson said.

Conversations around the change in policy are expected to continue Monday. Meanwhile, the city will remain in an emergency moratorium against the practice.

"My hope is they'll take a very serious look at this model policy and all its various stipulations, and the application process for how these are executed and what kinds of consequences there are for police for mishandling these situations," Kraska said.

"I think that people are tired of rhetoric. I think that people want to see deep, structural change happen swiftly. I think what he can do is very swiftly change his policy," Mckesson said. "I think police are going to fight him every step of the way. They have been fighting every step of the way with structural changes that have happened."

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