It concerns me from a safety standpoint. At some point along the way, many (not all) agencies developed policies and procedures that seem to utilize these "knock" raids that are nothing more than thinly veiled no knock raids. When you hit a residence at 5-6AM, knock and yell "Police!" then hit the door with a ram in 5-10 seconds, that isn't any reasonable amount of time for anyone to come open the door if they're asleep. In U.S. V. Banks, SCOTUS set a standard of 15-20 seconds, but that the actual time could be shorter based on the totality of the circumstances. In most all raid service I've viewed, the time interval is significantly less.
Even no-knocks have climbed dramatically. The number of no-knock raids has increased from 3,000 in 1981 to more than 50,000 in 2005 by some estimates. Raids that lead to deaths of innocent people are increasingly common. Since the early 1980s, 40 bystanders have been killed according to the Cato Institute.
I'm VERY pro-LE, but excessive use of raids leads to PR problems and unnecessarily endangers innocent people. It's a pretty simple equation that we can't reasonably capture every criminal. Based on the totality of the circumstances, some of these raids just don't make sense in the grand scheme of things.
Even no-knocks have climbed dramatically. The number of no-knock raids has increased from 3,000 in 1981 to more than 50,000 in 2005 by some estimates. Raids that lead to deaths of innocent people are increasingly common. Since the early 1980s, 40 bystanders have been killed according to the Cato Institute.
I'm VERY pro-LE, but excessive use of raids leads to PR problems and unnecessarily endangers innocent people. It's a pretty simple equation that we can't reasonably capture every criminal. Based on the totality of the circumstances, some of these raids just don't make sense in the grand scheme of things.
