LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) – Lawyers for a man who claims police lied to obtain a
no-knock arrest warrant for him say a 2014 memo from Little Rock police shows
the department had a policy to use SWAT teams, which are typically only used for
high-risk situations, to execute all search warrants.
Civil rights attorneys Ben Crump and Michael Laux released an internal police
memo Tuesday in which a sergeant calls the department’s use of its SWAT team to
execute all search warrants a “mandate” from the Office of the Chief of Police.
But a document from two years prior says the SWAT Unit serves “hazardous
warrants” in which violence or weapons are expected.
Last week, Houston’s police chief said his department will no longer use SWAT
teams to serve “no-knock” warrants after police killed a couple during an
exchange of gunfire while serving a warrant. Police later said an officer lied
to obtain the warrant.
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