Milwaukee Police Association president Andrew Wagner spoke to Wisconsin’s Morning News hosts about how he believes no-knock warrants should still be an option for officers despite the fatal shooting of twenty-two year old Amir Locke during a no-knock search in Minneapolis.
Wednesday morning Locke was fatally shot by a veteran police officer after he was mistaken for the target of the warrant.
No-knock warrants were banned in Milwaukee this past Nov. as a part of a police reform effort. Wagner said “we believe that no-knock warrants actually make the officers job safer and we believe that no-knock warrants are a necessary thing for police officers to have the option out there at the time the warrant is served.”
The shooting in Minneapolis nearly coincides with the anniversary of the killing of Milwaukee police officer Matthew Rittner who was killed during a no-knock warrant Feb. 2019.
According to Wagner, all warrants have a possibility of being dangerous. Wagner said “The best ways to try to catch the bad guy is to wade by the commanders, police on scene, and law enforcement experts. But unfortunately things happen on warrants, if it happens it’s tragic. We understand though, that there is an inherent risk with any warrant that we do.”
A Minneapolis city council is to hold a meeting this afternoon to discuss the use of no-knock warrants.