Campaign Zero Activist Organization Launches National Campaign to Ban ‘No-Knock’ Police Raids

According to colorlines.com, data-driven, activist-led organization Campaign Zero recently launched their ‘End All No-Knocks’ campaign with the goal of transforming the way police search warrants are executed across the nation.

To quote colorlines.com:

Police raids disproportionately impact Black communities, according to research conducted by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). No-knock warrants allow officers to legally force their way into private residences without announcing themselves or their purpose. “These raids, often carried out for low-level drug offenses, are executed at night by forcible entry, which commonly involves breaking through doors with battering rams, military-grade weapons and flash-bang explosives,” Campaign Zero said in its statement. Such practices endanger the community and can severely traumatize (or kill) children in the process—and in the case of Breonna Taylor, these warrants can also tragically lead to death.

“Simply banning No-Knock warrants isn’t going to make us safer and hold police accountable,” stressed Katie Ryan of Campaign Zero in an emailed statement. “In practice, knock-and-announce warrants can be executed like a No-Knock warrant so we must couple banning No-Knock warrants with heavy restrictions on the issuance and execution of all search warrants.”

DeRay McKesson, co-founder of Campaign Zero, said in a statement, “The trauma, injuries, and many deaths of innocent people make the practice of military-style warrant executions unsafe and barbaric.”

To read more: https://www.colorlines.com/articles/activists-launch-national-campaign-ban-no-knock-police-raids