BCA data shows 158 search warrants executed in Minnesota in 2022
MINNEAPOLIS -- New data released by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension shows that there were 185 no-knock search warrants requested in the state in 2022, of which 158 were executed.
Roughly 40% of those requests came from the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, mostly in relation to alleged drug and narcotics violations. Over the course of the year, 52 of HCSO's warrant requests related to drug violations turned up evidence. Data says 47 of their no-knock warrants involved no entry into a premises, meaning it instead involved a K-9 sniff or attaching a vehicle tracking device.
A Minnesota law went into effect in September of 2021 requiring law enforcement agencies that apply for no-knock warrants to report the data to the Minnesota Bureau of Public Safety. Data collected between September and December of 2021 shows 105 search warrants were executed in the state during that time frame.
But 2022 was the first full year in which agencies submitted their data. In all, six warrant requests out of 185 were denied. Following Hennepin County, Brooklyn Park Police, Minneapolis Police, and St. Cloud Police were the agencies that requested the most warrants, at 14, 11, and 11 respectively.
Statewide, the vast majority of subjects named in the warrants were men, mostly between the ages of 25 and 34. The report also shows that Black people made up 50% of all subjects named in search warrants, while white people made up 30%.
No-knock warrants came under renewed scrutiny after the police shooting of Amir Locke, who was killed in February of 2022 during a no-knock raid in a downtown Minneapolis apartment. He was not the subject of the warrant, but when police entered the apartment, body camera footage showed him waking up on the couch with a gun in hand. He was shot moments later.
His death prompted calls for an overhaul of the search warrant application process, which lawmakers addressed during this last legislative session.
New legislation cuts back on when a judge can approve a warrant; the search can only be executed if it cannot be done while the premises is unoccupied, and the occupant must "present an imminent threat of death or great bodily harm to the officers executing the warrant."
"We do not take the decision to request a no-knock warrant lightly. Multiple layers of review and approval are required prior to requesting no-knock search warrants. For example, since February 2022, all 112 warrants executed by our Emergency Services Unit have been knock and announce," said the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office in a statement. "Our Office will continue to examine and review our practices and procedures on a case-by-case basis to ensure no-knock warrants are requested only when necessary."
