A Minneapolis city council committee held a hearing on no-knock warrants Monday afternoon after the death of Amir Locke, who was fatally shot in an apartment by Minneapolis police officers on Wednesday during the execution of a no-knock warrant. Law enforcement and criminal justice experts as well as activists and attorneys for the Locke family offered research and perspective on the impact and harm of no-knock warrants to the city council as talks of legislation continue according to ABC News.

A no-knock warrant allows the police to enter someone’s home without knocking, sometimes without announcing their presence, attorney and criminal justice professor Rachel Moran said at the hearing.

Moran cited a New York Times investigation that found at least 81 civilians and 13 law enforcement officers have died in no-knock and quick-knock raids between 2010 and 2016 in the U.S. — and many more have been seriously injured.

“They’re dangerous for residents and for the police,” Moran said.

Attorney Ben Crump, attorney Antonio Romanucci and attorney Jeff Storms, are representing Locke’s family members, slammed local legislators for policies that Storms called “half measures.”

“This is an epic failure of policy, and that failed policy killed Amir Locke,” Crump said.

Romanucci added that no-knock warrants are “one of the most intrusive forms of government that our communities can experience, period. They can result in needless death and psychological trauma.”

Moran, Crump and Storms said that policy changes on no-knock warrants haven’t made a significant impact. Minneapolis Police Department updated its policy in November 2020, limiting no-knock warrants to “exigent” cases. Minneapolis police officers are required to announce their presence and purpose before entering a home, except for when announcing the officers’ presence would create an imminent threat.

In those cases, a supervisor can authorize officers to enter without announcing their presence. Supervisors are required to provide evidence to support that decision before its signed and approved by the judge according to ABC News.

“This is about proactive policymaking and instilling accountability,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said in a statement announcing the policy last year. “We can’t prevent every tragedy, but we can limit the likelihood of bad outcomes. This new, no-knock warrant policy will set shared expectations for our community and clear and objective standards within the department.”

That month, Moran said, the city reported that they’d been averaging about 139 no-knock warrants per year. In the first 10 months after the purported ban, the city reported that it had requested 90 no-knock warrants, according to Moran.

“It’s important to implore upon everyone, that half measures have really gotten cities nowhere across the country,” Storms said. “It’s important that city does not just put Band-Aids on the immediate problems but spends time thinking about how to preempt the next civil rights violation, not just related to no-knock warrants, but to other areas of policy practice and training.”

In response to Locke’s death, Frey issued a temporary stop on no-knock warrants.

“No matter what information comes to light, it won’t change the fact that Amir Locke’s life was cut short,” Frey said in a statement. “To ensure safety of both the public and officers until a new policy is crafted, I’m issuing a moratorium on both the request and execution of such warrants in Minneapolis.”

However, officials may execute a no-knock warrant under the moratorium if it is determined that there is an imminent threat of harm to an individual or the public. The chief must now approve the warrant in those cases, the mayor said. During a press conference last Friday concerning Locke’s death, acting Minneapolis Police Chief Amelia Huffman says that “both a no-knock and a knock search warrant were obtained … so that the SWAT team could assess the circumstances and make the best possible decision” in the case. Body camera footage released last week shows officers executing a no-knock search warrant before interacting with the 22-year-old. He had been sleeping under a blanket on the couch in the apartment that the warrant was issued for according to the news station

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