Roll Call Training Bulletin - 20122

Roll Call Training Bulletin Produced b y: Sgt. Andy Hall , Sex Assault & Child Abuse & Sgt Todd Edgerton , Metro Special Operatio ns SWAT Katherine Lester , Chief of Police Prepared by: Officer Jason Meier , PSU Volume 122 Knock and Notice Requirements 1/23/23 Prior to entering a home or structure pursuant to any lawful authority , officers must generally make all reasonable efforts to “knock,” announce their presence and identity, state their pur pose for entering , and wait a rea sona ble amount of time for com plian ce prior to making entry in to the home/s tructure. (ex. “123 Main Street , Sacramento P olice Departme nt, search warrant, demand entry.” Repeat three times with a sli ght pa use i n between to knock on the door.) Why does this rule exist ? The knock-and-notice rule exists primarily fo r the safety of the public and the officer. There have been e xample s in recent his tory of “no knock” search war rants that have resul ted in officer -involved shootings. The rule exists to give fa ir warning to the occupants of the residence to be sea rched that they are not being vi ctimized, but rather , that the entry is a legi timate police activity. There are limited circumstance s, however, in which officer s do not need to give knock and notice prior to entry. Tho se instances must be determi ned on a case -by-case basis . Operational considerations : According t o LEOKA studies, the main place s where officers are shot are still breach points and doorways. It may be a benefit to give knock and notice over the Public Address (PA) system or using the Long Range Acousti cal Device (LRAD ) prior to officers approaching for entry . It may also be benefi cial to use a siren during knock and notice . Doing so will aid in officer safety by removing confusion of home invas ion when the subject should have reaso nably known that entry was being forced by police . Officers will have to decide , based on all the circumstances and facts k nown at the time, whether to give knoc k and notice prior to entering indi vidual rooms wi thin a structure. Again, officers should be mind ful of officer safe ty, the safety of t he public, and sound tactics when making these decisions. What is a reason able amount of time ? There is no precise a mount of time that has been mandated by the legislature or the courts that an officer is required to wa it prior to entering, but typically it is 30 sec onds to a minu te per case law (Hudson (2006) 547 U.S. 586. ; Nealy (1991) 228 Cal.App.3d 447, 450. ). What is considered “reasonable ” is dependent on the factual circumstances presented to the offic er. • For example, if the officer gives knock and notice and observes the suspect throu gh an open window appear ing to destroy evi dence, then the amount of time the officer is Roll Call Training Bulletin Produced b y: Sgt. Andy Hall, Sex Assault & Child Abus e & Sgt Todd Edgerton , Metro Special Operation s SWA T Katherine Lester , Chief of Police Prepared by: Officer Jason Meier , PSU Volume 122 require d to wait could be shortened , or even waived altogether , if the ci rcum stance s demand . • If the of ficer is attempting to make entry at an hour when people would normally be asleep (0100 hours for instance) , and there are no observa ble sign s that anyone inside the residence is aw ake, then a “reaso nable” time to wait w ould be considera bly longer than th e example above. A primary consideration in evaluating whether enough time has elaps ed before forcing entry is a refusal. That will be determined by t ime or actions taken by the residents . Around one minute would be a "safe" period in most cases , but it can be less, especially if the officer know s that someone is inside. Explic it act ions like su bjects fleeing from the back or retreat ing into the residence after seeing a subject approach the door throug h a window are examples which would satisfy this requi rement. When and how should knock and notice be conducted? There are three requirements for proper “knoc k and notice ” before entry is made : 1. Knock (or do something t hat will alert the occupan ts of your presence) . 2. Identify yoursel f as a police officer. 3. Explain your purpose ( “warrant service ”, “search warrant ”, “probation search” or “parole search”). 4. Demand entry and wait a reasonable perio d before entry as explained above. Per 844 PC and 1531 PC, this is an absolute requirement for arres ts and search warrants . While this is not a legislated mandate, it is best practice and recogni zed by the courts as something that should be done when entering for other purposes, s uch as: • to secure the premises (Machado ( 1975)