Kentucky Senate president working on legislation to ban most no-knock warrants
Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers said Thursday he is preparing legislation that would effectively ban police use of most no-knock search warrants in the state.
The only exceptions, he said, would be for arrest warrants, hostage situations or threats to life.
If such a law had been on the books, Breonna Taylor’s death in March “would have never taken place,” said Stivers, R-Manchester.
He was referring to the 26-year-old Black woman and emergency medical technician who was fatally shot by Louisville police officers as they executed a no-knock search warrant on her apartment.
Her death sparked rallies and protests in Kentucky and across the nation.
Stivers said a no-knock warrant at 1 a.m. is “bad policing.”
No-knock warrants allow police officers to enter a home without knocking or ringing a bell.
Stivers said the legislation he is drafting would be bipartisan in nature and he hopes it would be considered in Kentucky’s 2021 General Assembly that begins in January.
It drew the support of Sen. Gerald Neal, D-Louisville, who said he appreciates “the tone and tenor” of what Stivers is doing.
Sen. Danny Carroll, R-Paducah, has been in law enforcement for 24 years. He said he wants “a thorough discussion” on the legislation, contending that no-knock warrants might be needed in certain circumstances.
Last month, Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton issued a moratorium on no-knock warrants, less than five days after Louisville banned the controversial practice outright.
Lexington Police Chief Lawrence Weathers has said no-knock warrants, which require a judge’s signature, have not been used in Lexington in the past 12 months. Those warrants must go through several layers of review. Weathers announced in early June no-knock warrants would go through an additional level of review before a warrant went to a judge for sign off.
Gorton said she made the decision to issue the moratorium after consulting Weathers.
