Posted on 05/26/2021 9:45:12 AM PDT by RandFan
Here's what is included in the bill passed in the House earlier this year:
The legislation would set up a national registry of police misconduct to stop officers from evading consequences for their actions by moving to another jurisdiction.
It would ban racial and religious profiling by law enforcement at the federal, state and local levels.
It would overhaul qualified immunity, a controversial federal doctrine that protects officers accused of violating the Constitution while on duty and that critics say shields law enforcement from accountability.
According to a fact sheet on the legislation, the measure would allow "individuals to recover damages in civil court when law enforcement officers violate their constitutional rights by eliminating qualified immunity for law enforcement."
The fact sheet also states that the legislation would "save lives by banning chokeholds and no-knock warrants" and would mandate "deadly force be used only as a last resort."
Biden had set a goal of today — the anniversary of Floyd's death — to pass police reform legislation during his joint address to Congress in April, though the White House backed off that deadline last week.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden wants to give the negotiators on the Hill space to negotiate, and that he has been speaking with police reform advocates throughout these negotiations. She also would not put a new timeline on when the President expects to sign a police reform bill into law, but said Biden wants to sign the bill into law “as soon as possible.”
(Excerpt) Read more at edition.cnn.com ...
The only legitimate use of a no-knock warrant is a hostage situation.
The “Empower Black Crime Bill” will turn most major cities into even worse war zones.
Overreach
Seriously, they should just write a law that states criminals must follow the law...that would solve 99.9% of the issues they act like they want to solve, right?!?
The only police reform laws in which I am interested are:
1) End of the War on Drugs! Funny how it took a constitutional amendment to ban alcohol and another to end that ban, but somehow that same congressional body, the supreme court system, and our executive branch all decided they just needed a “law” to ban drugs? How do you spell, “WTF”!?!
2) The End of civil asset forfeiture...theft is theft, regardless of the uniform you wear when you do it!
3) End the Supreme Court generated law of “qualified immunity.” As soon as cops and their leaders (up to and including city councils) know they will PERSONALLY be held accountable for stupid, wreckless acts, they will stop doing and authorizing stupid, wreckless acts (like no-knock raids on sketchy intel, ignoring laws to help your political party, civil asset forfeiture on BS stops, etc...)!
The rest are a waste of time, energy, and bandwidth to discuss! IMO!
Nope: Have to disagree here. No knock warrants have their place in totalitarian police states but have absolutely no, none, not any place whatsoever is a free society. The results speak for themselves.
Supporters say they just need to be limited and with ample evidence and such. Well folks we have that already and look what the police have done with this power. This should have been stopped and shut down permanently the very first time it was tried. There is no situation where we as a fee society can ever allow government the power to kick down the doors of citizens homes no matter what the suspected crime or evidence of such. The second you allow this, innocent people start dying and people live in fear of the police state. There are many good police officers but people need to realize police officers are as honest as anyone else in our society but not more so. If you understand this basic fact you understand that no government entity can ever be given the power to kick in the door of your home and start shooting.
The answer is to knock on the door, announce police and wait. IF the dwelling is occupied they will eventually come out. There is never ANY justification for kicking in the door.
Folks no knock warrants were a no go from the very first one. If you don't understand this then you truly don't understand our constitution at all.
Asset forfeiture should require a criminal conviction, as well as proof beyond reasonable doubt (ny the same standards as a criminal conviction) that determines the assets were illegally gained. Also, any assets seized should never go to the entity who seized them.
Cause and effect. The list of cause and effect is long, but the extreme side effects of the cure are now much worse than the disease it’s self.
Sorry my friend, I heartily disagree with you.
“Oh, Mr. Bad guy, PLEASE open the door. Do you have the little girl you kidnapped? No? OK, thanks. We’ll leave”
“Oh, Mr. Bad Guy, we heard that you and ten of your friends have guns pointed at us. We’ll just stand here on the porch instead of coming back at 4am when you’re all asleep.”
Like I said, they should be exceedingly rare, but like some of the one time use tools I own, it’s a tool in the box.
There are very limited cases where no knock warrants are actually needed and make sense. Unfortunately, these have been abused by police departments and federal agencies. For example, there was 0 reason that the FBI needed to show up at Roger Stone’s house in the early morning hours with a SWAT team. Two officers could have knocked on his door with an arrest warrant and maybe an additional 2 officers sitting in a car on the street and taken him into custody. Or, they could have had him surrender through his attorney.
Or they could wait until he came out of the house and arrested him there. Just like the arrest of David Koeresh (sp?) at the Branch Davidian compound. The sheriff knew he regularly went out on his own and could have been picked up without an armed raid. The ATF and FBI chose to have a dramatic made for TV raid that backfired badly.
I wouldn’t say never any justification for kicking in the door. I own multiple properties, I can imagine asking the cops to kick in the door if certain illegal activities were going on in one of my properties.
They have often used these where the evidence cannot be destroyed. Maybe drug raids where the evidence can be flushed etc but this is now their default rather then the exception. Judges should be skeptical of what the police say and hold the person who signed the affidavit responsible when what they swore to is not true.
Agreed, in majority of cases, time is on the side of police. I think in Waco they used the phony excuse kids were in danger. If children were actually in imminent danger, then I’d agree with the raid. Of course they weren’t, so don’t get me wrong here.
No-knock warrants? New business plan comes to mind.
And a hostage situation negates the requirement for a warrant. So there is NEVER A LEGITIMATE USE OF NO-KNOCK WARRANT. No-Knock warrants are expressly unconstitutional as they are never reasonable. This is the tool and tactic of the totalitarian police state and results speak for themselves.
It’d be best if the disease cured itself.
Alas...
Like I said you truly don't understand the Constitution. If there is evidence of a hostage situation (IE, an innocent persons life is in immediate danger) then NO WARRANT IS EVEN NEEDED. The police can take action under the circumstances you describe.
An innocent person or an officers life must be in immediate peril to justify kicking in a door. No-knock warrants NEVER meet this criteria.
No-knock warrants by definition are never reasonable and thus are expressly unconstitutional.
If those suspected illegal activities (remember innocent until proven guilty and probable cause) are not putting an innocent persons life in immediate danger then no there is no justification for kicking in the door. The police should be required to get a search warrant, announce their presence and wait for a response. If no innocent life is in peril there is zero justification for forced entry and certainly no justification for deadly force which at this point is one in the same.
Some good, some bad.
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