No Knock, No Problem?

The Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution protects citizens from unreasonable searches and seizures.[1]  Traditionally, the common law doctrine governing the reasonableness of police searches of private homes required officers to knock and announce their presence, giving the owner opportunity to answer.  This rule was adopted to limit unnecessary destruction of forced entry into private homes.  In 1970, Congress passed the Comprehensive Drug Abuse, Prevention, and Control Act, which authorized the use of no-knock warrants.[2]  After seeing the dangers of this method, Congress repealed the law in 1974.[3]  The Supreme Court, however, has ruled that in some circumstances, knocks are not necessary.  No-knock searches can be performed with a warrant authorizing entry without announcement.  If a warrant does not authorize entry without announcement, then a court must consider that when analyzing the reasonableness of a search.