Knock, Knock. Who’s There?

I had one of those crazy dreams a few days ago, one for which every time I woke up and rolled over, the dream came back to me. It happened three different times. The dream had me standing at Heaven’s door (don’t ask me how I happened to get even that far), and it featured an actual door that I had to knock upon to gain admittance. I’m not sure what the other admission requirements might have been, because no one ever answered the door when I knocked. (Maybe that was a message all by itself.) But I was understandably worried about not having the chance to explain myself for all of the misguided things I had done while alive; what if the knock on the door was literally the end of the road for me? Three times I awakened, shaking with the terror of that end to my life.

Fortunately for me, the dream faded away with the arrival of morning light. But for a young man by the name of Amir Locke, the nightmare did not end with a knock at the door. There was no knock. There was no advance warning whatsoever, just the crashing of the front door on the morning of February 2, followed by the yells and incomprehensible shouts of multiple SWAT team members, rushing into the apartment with automatic weapons raised and aimed at the 22 year-old. Locke was asleep on a living room sofa, nestled in a blanket against the cold night. Unfortunately for Locke, he also had a handgun nearby and amidst the horror of the break-in, he filled his hand with it for whatever self-protection it might offer against the invasion. That act was enough to cause the police to shoot and kill him.

It turns out that Locke was not the subject of the warrant. He had no criminal history. He had a permit to have his gun, though that was not even a requirement since the confrontation took place in a residence. As of this writing, it is not even clear what his relationship, if any, might have been to the warrant’s execution. But it did cause his execution. He did not have the opportunity to ask, “who’s there?”

The use of so-called “no knock” warrants by police is well-known. The case of Breonna Taylor in Louisville, KY in 2020 gained the most recent notoriety. Circumstances in that case were eerily similar to the death of Amir Locke: the police in that case charged into her home in the middle of the night with the same disorienting yells and weapons raised. Taylor’s boyfriend, awakened from sleep and believing that burglars had broken into their home, actually fired a warning shot from his gun, which resulted in 32 shots being fired by police in response. Six of those hit Taylor and she died.

This is needless nonsense. Is the “no knock” strategy truly the best warrant service that police can imagine? I have never studied policing techniques nor criminology, but I know that there are better ways to serve a warrant while protecting both the resident and the police in such service. I also know what my own response would be to an invasion of my home in the middle of the night and amidst the disorientation of sleep: panic and self-defense. A simple knock on the door allows a resident to ask who’s there, a reasonable expectation from within one’s own home. It will also alert criminals if they are within, but that may be the price to be paid for the protection of innocent people. In the case of Locke and Taylor, the police neither protected nor served the victims nor the public, whether criminal charges were ever brought against them or not. Ultimately, the outcome in the two cases did not protect the officers involved, either.

I have great admiration for the job of policing and the incredible difficulties inherent in the work. (I even harbored ideas early in my adult life of pursuing policing out of college.) It is work that demands a very special blend of characteristics and character in order that it be done well. But it also requires protocols that are based upon knowledge of human nature, anticipation of reasonable human response and a deep commitment to use of violence- even at an officer’s own peril- as a last resort. Crashing into a private residence, at night, amid screaming and raised weapons for the purpose of serving a warrant recognizes none of those requirements. Any police department using no knock warrant service is performing a gross disservice to its public.

I do not know of what transgression, if any, Amir Locke may have been guilty. But he was not afforded the rights and courtesy of a simple knock on his door so that he could even have a chance to respond in an appropriate manner. I pray that he has a better experience when he knocks on Heaven’s door….

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