No knock warrants have long been a point of contention and a common theme in calls for police reform. Despite this, approximately 20,000 no knock raids are performed in the United States every year. The unannounced entry of heavily armed law enforcement presents a dangerous situation for civilians and the police themselves. This is exacerbated when considering a former NYPD commissioner estimated 10% of no knock raids were performed on the wrong address. Also disturbing is that no knock warrants are more likely to be issued for situations where law enforcement knows there is a legally registered firearm in the home.
We’ve seen the violence caused by these raids over and over. Breonna Taylor was murdered by police when her boyfriend attempted to use a legal firearm to defend her, himself and their home. Just days ago in Minneapolis Amir Locke was murdered by police when he picked up his legal firearm to defend himself against Intruders that woke him up unannounced in the middle of the night. Amir Locke was not listed on the warrant, and there was nothing found in Breonna Taylor’s home.
The justification for no knock warrants is that suspects have an opportunity to destroy evidence if the police announce themselves. While there may be valid reason for this concern, the risk of evidence being destroyed pales in comparison to the risk associated with and the irreparable damage that we’ve repeatedly seen result from no knock warrants.
Sign this petition to call for the end of no knock warrants in Sangamon county, to make sure that no one is murdered for attempting to defend themselves with a legal firearm from intruders in the middle of the night.
We the people of Sangamon county demand that Mayor Langfelder, Springfield Police Chief Scarlett’s, Sheriff Jack Campbell and all other law enforcement agencies located within Sangamon county to officially remove no knock warrants from from their policies and operations immediately.