LEGISLATORS SEEK 'NO-KNOCK' CURBS

Mar. 18 - State legislators want to clamp down on "no-knock" raids by
police, such as the botched bust in September in which Denver police killed
a 45-year-old Mexican national.

Sen. Jim Congrove, R-Arvada, will introduce a bill Monday requiring
prosecutors to approve police requests for no-knock warrants and making it
harder to get a judge to issue one.

"The way they do this is unbelievable," said Congrove, a former police
officer who used to run an undercover narcotics unit. "With the passage of
this legislation, a key component of accountability would be put in place."

Critics have warned that Denver's noknock warrant process is littered with
oversights and omissions that could lead to a fatal tragedy. A Denver Post
review of 162 warrants earlier this year found judges rarely denied
requests for a no-knock raid and police usually found no guns where they
said guns would be.

Congrove's bill appears to have enough support to pass the Senate, with a
majority of senators signed on as cosponsors.

But the state's prosecutors, a powerful lobby at the Statehouse, are
planning to fight the bill. They say it could end the use of no-knock
warrants, which they see as a useful law-enforcement tool.

"There's every reason for us in Denver to look at our process," said Denver
District Attorney Bill Ritter, president of the Colorado District Attorneys
Council. "This is going way too far and ending the use of no-knock
warrants. And I think that is inappropriate."

Ritter is one of three Denver officials asked by Mayor Wellington Webb to
review the city's process for issuing no-knock warrant process in the wake
of the botched September raid.

Ismael Mena was killed by Denver SWAT officers Sept. 29 during a raid on
Denver's northeast side. Mena, who police said fired a gun at them, died in
a hail of bullets after he refused demands to lower his weapon.

Police later admitted they'd gone to the wrong house. Police Officer Joseph
Bini has been charged with perjury for allegedly lying to get the warrant
that led to the raid on Mena's home. The city is negotiating a settlement
with Mena's family.

Ritter said that making prosecutors an official part of the search warrant
process means they'd be called as witnesses any time a warrant is
challenged. He said the bill would require prosecutors to talk to
confidential informants before approving the warrant.

"Confidential informants are not going to talk to prosecutors," Ritter said.

The bill also would raise the legal standard of proof that law enforcement
must meet to get a noknock warrant. Currently, police must demonstrate
probable cause for a judge to issue a search warrant.

To make it a no-knock, they must have a "reasonable basis" to show that if
police knock, their safety could be in jeopardy or evidence could be
destroyed.

But Congrove's bill raises that reasonable basis to a much higher standard
- - "clear and convincing" evidence.

That standard is too high, Ritter said. "There may be times when officers
need to go in on a warrant where there is not clear and convincing
evidence," he said. "Their inability to do that may put their safety in
jeopardy or they won't run the warrant."

Congrove said he simply wants someone to go over the warrants, and the
supporting information, with a fine-tooth comb. He said he'd like to put in
specific questions, like "how long have you known the snitch" into the law,
but he can't.

Errors in no-knock warrants risk not only the lives of residents, he said,
but also the officers who help carry out the raid. A slack system also can
ruin careers of good officers, Congrove said.