Columbus City Council considers limiting or banning no knock warrants

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — No knock warrants have been scrutinized since the death of Breonna Taylor in March when she was shot and killed by Louisville Police as they served a no knock warrant.

In a legislative package related to police reform, Columbus City Council is looking at limiting or banning no knock warrants. 

With a no knock warrant, police do not have to knock or announce their presence before going into a building. In Columbus, the SWAT Unit and Investigative Tactical Unit (In/Tac) can execute these types of warrants.  

“I think the surprise factor gives us a tactical advantage and it takes away the opportunity for the suspect to consider other options or to get to their guns in order to engage in a gun battle,” said Deputy Chief Timothy Becker.  

The SWAT Unit did not do any no knock warrants in 2019. According to Columbus Police, the In/Tac unit, which focuses on drug cases, served 331 warrants in 2019. 92 of those were no knock and no suspects were injured.  

“Not serving no knock warrants also allows dangerous suspects to continue their drug trafficking activity plaguing neighborhoods,” said Commander Joe Echenrode. 

Thursday’s virtual hearing was an opportunity for council members to learn more about no knock warrants in Columbus and ask police questions about them. 

“At the end of the day, we want to remove drugs and weapons that are unlawfully possessed, get them off the streets, but I also don’t want that to be at the expense of one of our residents lives or life of an officer,” said council member Shayla Favor. “So, if practices need to be amended, I think this is the perfect time to do so.” 

Police were questioned about why it’s better to not wait for suspects to come out, who else is in a suspected house, what’s done to ensure police have the correct address, information about the types of drugs seized and a racial breakdown of the warrants served. 

“Legislating away no knock warrants will increase danger to both our employees and the public,” said Deputy Chief Becker. “What happened in Louisville is a horrible tragedy but things are not done here like they were in Louisville.”  

Council meber Emmanual Remy led Thursday’s briefing.  

“I felt as I’ve investigated this that they’ve done better than what might have been seen in other municipalities for instance, however, I think there’s opportunity to tighten it up,” Remy said. “I think at this point, we’re looking more along the lines of limiting [no knock warrants]. There are certainly extenuating circumstances where no knock warrants make sense.”  

Deputy Chief Becker said a suspect has not been fatally shot in decades during no knock warrants and that five detectives have been shot. 

Body cameras were also discussed. Becker said currently SWAT and In/Tac do not have body cameras but that they are requesting council’s approval to get them.