ARE NO-KNOCK SEARCH WARRANTS WORTH THE RISK?

The surprise search that led to a Racine County SWAT team member being
shot in the foot last week underscored the dangers police face when
executing these risky warrants.

No-knock search warrants, as they are called, are fast and
intimidating. Black-clad SWAT members, with guns drawn and pointed,
break down a door without warning and swarm inside a home, and cuff or
detain everyone inside at gunpoint. The idea is to take people by
surprise and overwhelm them before they can destroy evidence or fight
back.

Sometimes, law enforcement officers break into the wrong home. That's
happened a few times in recent years in Racine County.

Sometimes, much more rarely, somebody inside that wrong home dies as a
result. That's what happened in New York City in May, when a
57-year-old woman had a heart attack while police mistakenly raided
her home. That's also what happened in Lebanon, Tenn., in 2000 when
police barged into 61-year-old John Adams' home by mistake. Adams
thought it was a home invasion, grabbed his sawed-off shotgun and
fired. Police shot back, killing Adams.

Are no-knock search warrants worth the risk? Are they justified?

Racine County Sheriff Carlson said they are.

Such warrants are often criticized because of the credibility of the
information officers use to get one.

Carlson said most of the no-knock warrants his department executes are
drug-related. Drug agents will use whatever information they have to
justify the warrant, including information from confidential
informants - drug users.

Basing a warrant on the word of a drug user has always been, will
always be debated, Carlson said. But investigators take pains, or are
supposed to, to make sure the information is correct.

"The courts don't award those lightly," Carlson said of the no-knock
search warrants.

Take the search of Larry Dunkerly's apartment, 1703 Erie St., on
Friday.

Racine County Metro Drug Unit agents based their warrant request on
information from a confidential informant, according to the search
warrant. That informant told them Dunkerly had been selling cocaine
from his apartment for a couple months, then bought some while drug
agents watched. The informant told them Dunkerly belonged to a street
gang, had a boxer-style dog and a gun.

Judge Stephen Simanek signed off on the request for a no-knock
warrant.

Agents didn't find any cocaine. They did find a plastic bag with the
corners cut off - commonly used to repackage and sell drugs - a scale,
a couple of marijuana pipes and a small amount of marijuana.

Deputy David Wawrzyniakowski, a member of the Sheriff's Department
SWAT team that broke into Dunkerly' apartment, was shot in the foot as
he entered the apartment. He was the first one in.

No-knock warrants are inherently risky, both to the officers executing
them and the people inside. Things can go wrong, Carlson admitted.

But Carlson said things go right a lot more than they go wrong.
Wawrzyniakowski's injury was the first from hostile action during a
search warrant in Carlson's 20-plus years with the Sheriff's Department.

Carlson also said that no-knock warrants are sometimes necessary.
"Certain criminal activity is such that you have to take whatever
means that are available to you to be used to stop it," Carlson said.
"And that sometimes involves a no-knock search warrant."

The American Civil Liberties Union also recognizes that no-knock
search warrants are appropriate ways of searching for evidence in some
situations. Chris Ahmuty, executive director of the ACLU of Wisconsin,
said mistakes are always a concern, but not enough of a concern to do
away with the practice altogether.

"It's dangerous work," Ahmuty said.