AB 329

Under current law, a law enforcement officer executing a search warrant must

knock and announce before entering unless, at the time the warrant is executed, the

law enforcement officer has a reasonable suspicion that knocking and announcing

will be dangerous or futile or will inhibit the effective investigation of a crime.

This bill requires the Department of Justice to collect information from law

enforcement agencies and prepare an annual report to the legislature about the

issuance of search warrants and the use of no-knock or unannounced entries upon

execution of search warrants. The bill requires the report to specify, by jurisdiction,

for the previous calendar year, all of the following:

1. The total number of search warrants that were issued and denied.

2. The number of those warrants that explicitly authorized or declined to

authorize an unannounced entry.

3. The number of warrants that did not authorize an unannounced entry that

were executed using an announced entry and the number that were executed with

an unannounced entry.

4. Of the warrants that did not authorize an unannounced entry that were

executed using an unannounced entry, the number that returned an inventory of

evidence; the number that resulted in great bodily harm to or death of any person;

and the age, race, and gender of any suspect present at the warrant execution.

5. The number of warrants that authorized an unannounced entry that were

executed using an announced entry and the number that were executed with an

unannounced entry.

6. The type of suspected crime for which any unannounced entry warrant was

authorized.

7. Of the warrants that authorized an unannounced entry that were executed

using an unannounced entry, the number that returned an inventory of evidence; the

number that resulted in great bodily harm to or death of any person; and the age,

race, and gender of any primary suspect present at the warrant execution.