Last year and this past spring a lot of attention has been focused on No-knock raids. Most recently a couple in Baltimore City fell victim to this unfortunate series of events. The couple was at home watching television when police knocked down his front door and placed Andrew Leonard in handcuffs. His home was raided and he was questioned. The police found nothing they were looking for in the police raid that was intended to bust a small drug operation. The reason they probably found nothing in Leonard’s house was because they had the wrong address. Apparently no-knock raids are permissible when warrants are signed by judges or by police officials that determine at the scene if there is a determination that announcing themselves would safety issues or destruction with evidence. Now this practice seems very reasonable and practical to do. However, this is the second case in Maryland where these raids have gone south and done more damage than good. More notably, there was a case last spring where the mayor of Berwyn Heights had a no-knock raid done to his house and his two dogs were shot and killed. The two were unknowingly victims of a marijuana drug smuggling scheme. The police later apologized, but defended their actions. It seems as though these drug raids the background research on these raids are not being done properly.
Police in the recent Baltimore case had the wrong addresses. There must be a communication issue or a lack of strategic planning going on in order for such mistakes to be taking place. As stated in the Baltimore Sun article the Maryland General Assembly passed a law requiring greater accountability for SWAT team use, but it seems though this law did no good in this situation. A question that needs to be raised is on what basis do police officers make the no-knock raid decision. They make that decision if it is determined there is an apparent danger with safety or destruction of evidence, but how do they determine that from the outside of a property? Was there any outward implication that Leonard presented a threat upon arrival to his home? There is something about the whole order that seems unsettling. If the police team cannot get the address correct of apparent drug bust they are trying do it is clear that they should not being doing raids. Father along in the Baltimore Sun article it says a 2006 study found that hundreds of raids are conducted each year at wrong addresses and sometimes these raids result in death. More of a crack down on how these raids are done needs to be enacted to insure safety for both the police and the people that are being raided upon.
There is one more thing that needs to be explored in this case of the Baltimore couple. You would think that the city of Baltimore would repair the damages done to their house during the process of the raid. Well no such thing has been done and it has been nearly two months since the incident occurred. He was actually denied reimbursement and was told that since the police were given the warrant for Leonard’s address that had not technically stormed the wrong address. This statement gives off a strong sense that there is a denial that this raid turned into a fiasco. The least the city’s government can do is pay for a repair for Leonard after accidentally raiding his home. The Maryland General Assembly needs to focus a lot more on legislation for no-knock warrant considering those two incidents have occurred in Maryland where the homeowners have been innocent and harm has been done to their property.
Source Used: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/baltimore_city/bal-te.md.ci.raid0...
