(Angus Mordant/Getty Images)
By Anthony Payero
(NEW YORK) Dermot Shea, the commissioner of the New York City Police Department (NYPD), spoke against the department no longer using so-called no-knock warrants Thursday, saying any talks of removing the warrants would make it harder for police to remove illegal guns off the streets, according to ABC 7 NY.
Shea said no-knock warrants have led to a 60% increase in gun arrests so far this year.
Despite the success rate, the no-knock warrants do have potential downsides, with the death of Breonna Taylor in Kentucky being one of the most notable.
The NYPD performed such a raid in Queens in March, busting into Tijuana Brown's house at dawn to serve a search warrant targeting her nephew, Andre Brown.
"I realized someone was in there," she said, per ABC 7. "We came out and guns [were] drawn at us."
Officers said they obtained the warrant after an undercover officer purchased marijuana from the house In February and March after a neighbor's complaints of drugs and guns there.
"In all three buys, Andre Brown was the seller," Assistant Chief Joe Kenny said. "In one case, he made a sale from a side door that buyers were directed to by a female occupant of the residence."
Brown said he was not selling drugs and was targeted by officials for his criminal background.
"I know me being incarcerated and being an ex-con is [the] reason why this is going still," he said.
Kenny argued against that claim.
"He has eight prior arrests and is currently on parole for [a] violent robbery in which he stabbed his victim," he said. "He also has an arrest history that includes a...felony conviction for illegally carrying a firearm."
The NYPD performed 1,815 no-knock warrants last year, during which they reportedly seized 792 firearms and in 667 cases, recovered narcotics. In 40 cases, they did not locate the proof for which they were searching.
"No-knock warrants are a critical tool the NYPD uses to keep narcotics off the streets and to seize illegal firearms," Chief of Department Rodney Harrison said.