No-knock warrants are under new scrutiny after fatal shooting in Minneapolis

No-knock warrants are under new scrutiny¹ after fatal shooting in Minneapolis

Transcript²

No-knock warrants have been in steep decline since the height of the war on drugs, but the killing³ of a Black man in Minneapolis has raised questions about why police still insisted on the tactic⁴.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

New court documents show that when 22-year-old Amir Locke was shot and killed by Minneapolis police last week, they were actually looking for his 17-year-old cousin. Police used a no-knock warrant for the predawn raid, a so-called fast-entry tactic that is once again under scrutiny. NPR's Martin Kaste explains why. And a warning - you will hear the sound of gunshots in this story.

MARTIN KASTE, BYLINE⁵: The point of a no-knock warrant is, of course, surprise. In the body camera video of last week's early morning raid, you see Minneapolis officers, serving a warrant in connection with a murder investigation⁶, quietly using a key to unlock a door, then bursting into an apartment, rifles out.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICER #1: Police. Search warrant.

UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICER #2: Police. Search warrant.

KASTE: And it happened so fast that the Minneapolis Police Department also released a version of this video in slow motion.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICER #1: Police. Search warrant.

KASTE: And in that video, you can see a figure wrapped in a blanket getting up from a couch as the police swarm⁷ around him. There's a glimpse of a gun in his hand. He was later reported to be a legal gun owner. And then an officer shoots him.

(SOUNDBITE OF GUNSHOTS)

KASTE: That was Amir Locke, a 22-year-old Black man, not the person the police were looking for, who'd had less than nine seconds to understand what was happening before he was shot. Thor Eells says this is the problem with no-knocks. That element of surprise can also generate confusion for the cops.

THOR EELLS: The shorter time that I have to see you make a movement - is that a cellphone or is that a gun?

KASTE: And this is hardly a new insight. Eells is the head of the National Tactical Officers Association. They train SWAT officers. He says no-knocks were used the most about 20 years ago, but there was a reassessment around 2010. And in recent years, his organization has discouraged their use.

EELLS: There has been a significant decrease in the number of SWAT teams utilizing⁸ no-knock warrants as a matter of routine or with any degree of regularity⁹. It's really become more of an exception.

KASTE: Activists¹⁰ agree that the political climate has shifted against no-knocks, including a number of states and cities that have banned or restricted the tactic, especially after the high-profile shooting of Breonna Taylor in a fast-moving police raid in Louisville in 2020.

KATIE RYAN: I think we've seen a lot of symbolic¹¹ bills.

KASTE: Katie Ryan is chief of staff for Campaign Zero, which seeks to end all no-knocks. Their website has a map that tracks new limits on the tactic, but she says the reality on the ground can be more complicated.

RYAN: There is still so much work to be done, and there is so much nuance¹² to understand in order for there to be substantive¹³ change.

KASTE: Minneapolis appears to be a case in point. The mayor had limited no-knocks after the George Floyd protests of 2020. But in the aftermath of last week's shooting, it's become clear that the police were still regularly getting them. In fact, in this case, Minneapolis police may have insisted on a no-knock. The Star Tribune reports that Minneapolis police told St. Paul police, whose homicide investigation this was, that they would serve the warrant only as a no-knock. Now the mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey, has announced a new moratorium¹⁴ as the city looks into what happened, and Rachel Moran says there's a deeper problem.

RACHEL MORAN: No one has reined¹⁵ the Minneapolis Police Department in.

KASTE: Moran is an associate professor of law at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis, where she researches police accountability.

MORAN: The police department itself is not interested in stopping its use or even reducing its use, and no one has made them do it.

STEVE IJAMES: So much of this is organizational culture.

KASTE: That's Steve Ijames, a police practices trainer and consultant¹⁶. Without commenting specifically on Minneapolis, he says Americans should keep in mind the decentralized nature of policing in this country, not to mention the willingness of local judges to sign off on the warrants.

IJAMES: Are judges really peeling the layers of the onion back on this? In my experience, the answer is no. They largely defer¹⁷, trust the expert, the officer, and that officer may differ dramatically from one jurisdiction¹⁸ to another what an officer would approach a judge for and talk no-knock.

KASTE: So while experts such as Ijames think no-knock warrants are on the decline, he says it still really comes down to your local police department.

Martin Kaste, NPR News.

1 scrutiny   

n.详细检查，仔细观察

参考例句：

• His work looks all right,but it will not bear scrutiny.他的工作似乎很好，但是经不起仔细检查。
• Few wives in their forties can weather such a scrutiny.很少年过四十的妻子经得起这么仔细的观察。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

4 tactic   

n.战略，策略；adj.战术的，有策略的

参考例句：

• Reducing prices is a common sales tactic.降价是常用的销售策略。
• She had often used the tactic of threatening to resign.她惯用以辞职相威胁的手法。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

7 swarm   

n.(昆虫)等一大群；vi.成群飞舞；蜂拥而入

参考例句：

• There is a swarm of bees in the tree.这树上有一窝蜜蜂。
• A swarm of ants are moving busily.一群蚂蚁正在忙碌地搬家。

8 utilizing   

v.利用，使用( utilize的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Utilizing an assembler to produce a machine-language program. 用汇编程序产生机器语言的过程。 来自辞典例句
• The study and use of devices utilizing properties of materials near absolute zero in temperature. 对材料在接近绝对零度时的特性进行研究和利用的学科。 来自辞典例句

9 regularity   

n.规律性，规则性；匀称，整齐

参考例句：

• The idea is to maintain the regularity of the heartbeat.问题就是要维持心跳的规律性。
• He exercised with a regularity that amazed us.他锻炼的规律程度令我们非常惊讶。

10 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 symbolic   

adj.象征性的，符号的，象征主义的

参考例句：

• It is symbolic of the fighting spirit of modern womanhood.它象征着现代妇女的战斗精神。
• The Christian ceremony of baptism is a symbolic act.基督教的洗礼仪式是一种象征性的做法。

12 nuance   

n.(意义、意见、颜色)细微差别

参考例句：

• These users will easily learn each nuance of the applications they use.这些用户会很快了解他们所使用程序的每一细微差别。
• I wish I hadn't become so conscious of every little nuance.我希望我不要变得这样去思索一切琐碎之事。

13 substantive   

adj.表示实在的；本质的、实质性的；独立的；n.实词，实名词；独立存在的实体

参考例句：

• They plan to meet again in Rome very soon to begin substantive negotiations.他们计划不久在罗马再次会晤以开始实质性的谈判。
• A president needs substantive advice,but he also requires emotional succor. 一个总统需要实质性的建议，但也需要感情上的支持。

14 moratorium   

n.(行动、活动的)暂停(期)，延期偿付

参考例句：

• The government has called for a moratorium on weapons testing.政府已要求暂停武器试验。
• We recommended a moratorium on two particular kinds of experiments.我们建议暂禁两种特殊的实验。

15 reined   

勒缰绳使（马）停步( rein的过去式和过去分词 )； 驾驭； 严格控制； 加强管理

参考例句：

• Then, all of a sudden, he reined up his tired horse. 这时，他突然把疲倦的马勒住了。
• The officer reined in his horse at a crossroads. 军官在十字路口勒住了马。

16 consultant   

n.顾问；会诊医师，专科医生

参考例句：

• He is a consultant on law affairs to the mayor.他是市长的一个法律顾问。
• Originally,Gar had agreed to come up as a consultant.原来，加尔只答应来充当我们的顾问。

17 defer   

vt.推迟，拖延；vi.(to)遵从，听从，服从

参考例句：

• We wish to defer our decision until next week.我们希望推迟到下星期再作出决定。
• We will defer to whatever the committee decides.我们遵从委员会作出的任何决定。

18 jurisdiction   

n.司法权，审判权，管辖权，控制权

参考例句：

• It doesn't lie within my jurisdiction to set you free.我无权将你释放。
• Changzhou is under the jurisdiction of Jiangsu Province.常州隶属江苏省。