‘Elections have consequences.’ Black leaders urge Lexington council to ban no-knocks

Hours before the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council was scheduled to take its first vote on a no-knock warrant ban, Black faith leaders renewed their calls Tuesday for the council to pass the police reform measure.

“Today is the most important day, so far, in the quest for police reform,” said Rev. Joseph Owens, of Shiloh Baptist Church, reading from a letter to the council and Mayor Linda Gorton, signed by the Black faith leaders.

Owens and the other Black faith leaders gathered on the steps of Main Street Baptist Church to read the letter. The group marched from Main Street Baptist to city hall to hand-deliver the letters to the council and the mayor.

It was one year and four days ago the group first hand-delivered letters to city leaders asking for substantial economic and police reforms in the wake of social justice marches and demonstrations sparked by the police killing of Breonna Taylor in Louisville and George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Taylor was killed by police during the execution of a botched no-knock warrant.

In the letter, the group also asked the council to restore a 15-second minimum wait time for all knock and announce warrants. That provision was taken out when the council’s Planning and Public Safety Committee met in May. The committee passed the ordinance unanimously. The ordinance, as amended, now asks officers to wait a “reasonable amount of time” after knocking before entering.

That’s too vague and problematic, the leaders said.

“Basing the minimum wait period, after knocking and announcing, solely on a reasonableness standard would be grossly inadequate in addressing the inherent problems associated with no-knock warrants,” Owens said.

At a minimum, the 15-second wait before entering should be restored, the group said.

Any attempts to water down a complete ban on no-knock warrants is not acceptable, the leaders wrote.

“Passing a watered-down ordinance would do little or nothing to further the cause of local police reform and would send a very loud and clear message to approximately 48,000 Black people in Lexington and all Lexingtonians who seek police reform, that the LFUCG Council is content with creating the illusion of change, but is not committed to taking the stand for justice that is required,” Owens said.

The council is expected to vote on whether to move the ordinance to its meeting agenda at a council work session at 3 p.m. Tuesday.

Since the Planning and Public Safety Committee meeting in May, police and those who back a ban on no-knock warrants have ramped up lobbying the council. Several people, including members of the group LPD Accountability, have urged the council in public meetings over the past 30 days to pass the ban. Meanwhile, police have privately lobbied individual council members not to ban no-knock warrants.

Lexington police have repeatedly said no-knock warrants are used rarely and only specially trained units can execute no-knock warrants. But police still need to use them in very rare cases.

Gorton issued a moratorium on no-knocks in June 2020. But that moratorium allows for no-knock warrants if Gorton signs off on them. Gorton has said she believes no-knocks are needed in very limited situations.

However, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported that in 2015, the city had to pay a $100,000 settlement to a Lexington homeowner after Lexington police raided the wrong home. The city implemented a host of changes after that botched no-knock warrant.

The city has used no-knock warrants four times in the past several years, Black faith leaders said.

“It is quite disturbing that the Lexington Police Department believes that their track record, of only executing them properly 75 percent of the time, serves as a basis for supporting their continued use,” Owens said.

The Black faith leaders will have a watch party at Shiloh Baptist Church later Tuesday to watch the work session. The council is still meeting virtually. It will return to in-person meetings June 15. If the council moves the ordinance forward Tuesday, it will get its first reading on Thursday. A final vote is expected on June 24.

If the ordinance fails or is watered down or altered in any way, Black faith leaders will be watching, said Rev. Clark Williams of Shiloh Baptist Church. They have lobbied for substantial police reform for years and have seen little movement, he said.

“Elections have consequences,” Williams said.

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