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No-knock warrants in Minnesota: BCA releases annual report

By FOX 9 Staff
Published  July 7, 2023 11:18am CDT
Crime and Public Safety
FOX 9

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - Law enforcement agencies executed more than 150 no-knock warrants in Minnesota in 2022, according to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension's new report. 

The BCA on Friday released its 2022 No-Knock Search Warrant Report, which is the first report it has released containing a full year of data. The 2021 report, which was the first ever for the report, only contained data from Sept. 1, 2021, through Dec. 31, 2021. The report is required by law. 

Here's a breakdown of the data for 2022:

  • 185 warrants were requested
  • 179 warrants were issued (six warrants were denied)
  • 158 warrants were executed
  • 148 warrants in which the evidence being sought was located

Here's the warrant data for Sept. 1-Dec. 31, 2021:

  • 132 warrants requested
  • 129 warrants issued (three warrants were denied)
  • 105 warrants executed
  • 87 warrants in which the evidence being sought was located

According to the report, Hennepin County requested the most no-knock warrants (76) and executed the most (64) in 2022. 

In Minneapolis, where a controversial no-knock warrant led to the police killing of Amir Locke in 2022 and resulted in a new no-knock warrant policy, there were 11 requests, zero denied, and nine executed in all of 2022. That's a sharp decrease compared to 2021 when from Sept.1-Dec. 31, 2021, the Minneapolis Police Department requested 44 no-knock warrants (they were denied one) and executed 33 no-knock warrants.

The Minnesota Legislature this year passed a bill, which was signed into law, that bans no-knock warrants barring specific circumstances. It became law on July 1, 2023.

The law allows no-knock warrants only when the search cannot be executed while the premises are unoccupied and "the occupant or occupants of the dwelling will present an immediate threat of death or injury to the officers executing the warrant." Previously, judges could approve no-knock warrants under certain conditions, such as when the police can demonstrate they are unable to detain a suspect or collect evidence through a knock-and-announce warrant.