SB159 had passed 8-1 in the State Senate but after your phone calls and objections this, as well as the other two bills legalizing no-knock raids in Georgia, are dead letters! Here is my most recent show with a little on no-knock raids plus a lot on what it means to be a libertarian.
Hour 1
Hour 2
Monica, I agree with your stance against no-knock raids and applaud your efforts to halt this further subversion of our 4th Amendment rights. Even if your labors are rewarded with its defeat, however, I believe it will be a hollow victory and here’s why. Anyone who sees cop shows that document search warrants being executed will, 99% of the time, witness the mob of blue violently bang on the target’s door, yell “Sheriff’s Office! Search warrant!” (usually unintelligibly) and then immediately employ the battering ram (which cops euphemistically call ‘the key’) to gain entry. The Supreme Court has upheld forced entries, generally, if the gendarmes wait “15-20 seconds”. I have never seen any waiting at all in any of the dozens of search warrant executions I have watched. In fact, the wielder of the ram usually has the device traveling forward and rapidly flying home before his partner even finishes announcing “Search warrant!” By law, they are to “…announce their presence and allow a reasonable amount of time for you to come to the door.” I have never observed them waiting ANY amount of time. And then, of course, there are the exceptions, hahahaha. Exigent circumstances or emergency situations; an example of the former is if one of the officers (in drug busts) “hears” a toilet flush and of the latter (in domestic squabbles) the officers “hear” threats or a scream. What an officer ‘hears’ is subjective and can never (IMO) be disproved in court ex post facto. My point, dear Lady Perez, is that the way things stand today it does not make much difference whether cops attack a home with a standard search warrant or a no-knock—they are entering, post haste and in force. I hope my commentary doesn’t dissuade you from continuing your bid to undo or undermine this anti-constitution legislation.