1UNC
SCHOOL OF
GOVERNMENT
ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE BULLETIN
N0.2023/01 I JANUARY 2023
The Law and Practice of No-Knock
Search Warrants in North Carolina
Jeffrey B. Welty
CONTENTS
Introduction ... 1
I. The Law of No-Knock Warrants ...3
A. Federal Law... 3
B. North Carolina Law. . . 6
C. Is There Legal Authority to Issue No-Knock
Warrants in North Carolina?.. . 10
II. The Prevalence and Practice of No-Knock
Warrants in North Carolina ...12
A. Prevalence of No-Knock Warrants ...13
B. Justifications in No-Knock Applications . . 13
C. Documentation of Permission
for No-Knock Entry ...14
D. Quick-Knock Entries... 15
Introduction
A no-knock search warrant is a warrant that allows an officer to force his or her way into a
premises without first knocking on the door and announcing his or her presence and purpose.
These warrants are controversial. Since Breonna Taylor was killed during the execution of a
no-knock warrant, they have been the subject of a national debate.1 They have been addressed in
the media2 and in law reviews.3
III. Efforts to Prohibit or to Limit the Use
of No-Knock Warrants ...18
A. Legislative Action ...18
B. Court System Action ...
/9
C. Local Board Action .. .20
D. Agency Action ...21
Conclusion . .22
Jeffrey B. Welty is a professor of public law and government at the School of Government. His areas of
interest include criminal law and procedure, particularly the law of policing, search and seizure, digital
evidence, and criminal pleadings.
1. See, e.g, Richard A. Oppel, Jr., et al„ What to Know about Breonna Taylor's Death, N.Y. Times, Apr.
26, 2021 (noting that the case has drawn “national attention” and involved a no-knock warrant, though
there is a dispute over whether officers actually executed the warrant without knocking and announcing).
2. See, e.g., Courtney Kan et al„ What to Know about No-Knock Warrants, Wash. Post, Apr. 6, 2022.
3. Compare, e.g, Blanche Bong Cook, Something Rots in Law Enforcement and It’s the Search Warrant:
The Breonna Taylor Case, 102 B.U. L. Rev. 1 (2022) (arguing that no-knock warrants have become
routine), and Brian Dolan, Note, To Knock or Not to Knock: No Knock Warrants and Confrontational
Policing, 93 St. John's L. Rev. 201 (2019) (critiquing no-knock warrants), with Donald B. Allegro, Note,
Police Tactics, Drug Trafficking, and Gang Violence: Why the No Knock Warrant Is an Idea Whose Time
Has Come, 64 Notre Dame L. Rev. 552 (1989) (supporting no-knock warrants).
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© 2023. School of Government. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
