NO-KNOCK RAIDS DROP DRAMATICALLY

March 17 - Denver's SWAT team has been doing a lot less crashing into
houses lately. In fact, it hasn't raided anything in the last three
weeks.

That's because police have reduced the number of no-knock raids
they've requested since the Sept. 29 fatal shooting of Mexican
national Ismael Mena, department officials said.

In the six months since Mena died, records show SWAT officers have
executed 26 no-knock raids. By comparison, they did that many raids in
the three months before Mena was shot.

And since Jan. 1, there have been just 13 no-knock raids - about a
third of the 34 the team did during the same period last year, records
show.

That's left the SWAT team more time for other things, such as
protecting visiting dignitaries and managing demonstrators.

"We've been staying busy with protesters," said Capt. Vincent DiManna,
who heads the SWAT team.

"It seems like we've been having some kind of public demonstration
every other day, but crowd control is one of our charged
assignments."

In addition, the few no-knock warrants are coming mostly from veteran
narcotics officers or sergeants in charge of district impact teams.
They're not coming from the neighborhood police officers - known in
the department as NPOs - who had been getting them on their own last
year with increasing frequency, records show.

"Right now, I'd have to say the NPOs are laying low," said Capt.
Daniel O'Hayre, the acting division chief of patrol. "I think we're
just waiting to see what transpires with all the reviews and
investigations going on."

The department's last no-knock raid occurred Feb. 24 when SWAT
officers captured a fugitive from California, and the last
drug-related raid was Feb. 11, DiManna said.

And you'd have to look back to Feb. 4 to find the last no-knock raid
for a district impact team.

That's a far cry from the three or four raids a week that police did
last year.

Division Chief Armedia Gordon, who is responsible for the department's
narcotics squad, said noknock requests are being scrutinized more.

"I believe the attorneys and judges are being sure about what they're
doing," she said.

Mena died during a no-knock raid in northeast Denver that police later
admitted targeted the wrong house. While a special prosecutor absolved
SWAT officers from any wrongdoing in the case, Officer Joseph Bini was
charged with felony perjury for allegedly lying in the affidavit used
to get the warrant.

To prevent a potentially costly lawsuit, attorneys for the city and
Mena's family began talks with a mediator Thursday to negotiate a
settlement between the $5.5 million the family wants and the $150,000
the city offered.

Meanwhile, police apparently aren't chancing another Mena incident
during mediation proceedings or as long as a three-member panel
appointed by Mayor Wellington Webb reviews the process.

After Bini was charged, Webb empowered Manager of Safety Butch
Montoya, Denver County Presiding Judge Robert Patterson and District
Attorney Bill Ritter to take a closer look at how invasive warrants
are used by the department, how they are obtained and whether changes
are needed.

The Denver Post last month revealed flaws in the no-knock system,
including judges who authorized raids when police merely wanted a
regular search warrant. The Post also found that in 80 percent of
no-knock raids, police retrieved no guns even though they based their
request on the claim that weapons would be found.

Webb said he initially wanted to ban no-knock raids, but acquiesced to
pleas that the procedure is an integral tool in the battle against
drugs. The review panel has interviewed key law enforcement officials,
but hasn't said when it will release its findings.

Regardless of the outcome, DiManna said the decreasing number of
no-knocks is putting his team at ease, believing a stricter standard
is being applied.

"I feel that there's more of a review process going on," DiManna said.
"The fact that it's a sergeant or detective requesting the warrants
shows the checks and balances that are occurring. There's more
accountability."