A few thoughts. I am a cop, and was a narcotics detective for years, and I will say there is absolutely a time and place for a no-knock entrance. With that being said, it is very rare. The overwhelming vast majority of search warrants I´ve served or been a part of where knock and announce, everyone in easily identifiable police gear, a marked squad car with blue lights on in front of the house... just doing everything we can to never run into a situation where someone could argue they thought we were ¨intruders¨ breaking into the house. We rarely served anything in the dead of night, because that was known as a time when you are most likely to be mistaken for stick up boys trying to rob dealers for their dope. I always liked to make sure any kids in the house were at school, also. There are tons of risks to serving warrants in the middle of the night. If this police department did not take these types of precautions... well honestly I could see the acquittal for murder charges and I believe the case agent or supervisor in charge should be held accountable.
That being said, there are tons of times that people refuse to open the door as they´re trying to figure a way out of their situation. When it is very obvious that this is what is going on, it is then time to act. The longer you let them think about it, the longer they have to barricade, attack out, etc. There is a time and place to realize that you won´t have the door opened for you, so you have to open it yourself. No issues being mistaken for an intruder if you do your job the way you should. I have seen a ¨raid¨ of criminals dressed up in police vests though. I do know it happens. These are sensitive issues.
Forced/dynamic entries should not be banned, but they should still be clearly announced in almost every single case.
Legitimate self defense vs PFBF. In my county, a legitimate self defense usually results in no charges. Not even possession of firearm by felon if the defender used a firearm and was a felon. I know that may seem weird, but that´s our district attoreny´s practice. I am not against it personally. Especially if it happens at the person´s home where they used a gun for self defense. It´s a slightly different thing if a thrice over convicted felon gang banger walks the street armed and gets attacked by rival gang members and he has a gun. The guy with a minor felony conviction shoots someone with a hunting rifle as they broke in his house, though? Not getting charged.
Lastly, I also don´t really accept ¨it´s the equipment´s fault¨ excuse on body/in car cameras. I have found them to be largely reliable. Sure occasionally a microphone goes down or something, but it´s not all that common. What I will say is people expect body/car cameras to show everything in context. It does not in almost every circumstance. So body cameras and car cameras aren´t this end all be all of evidence. A lot of it can be used to corroborate stuff, but things still take place outside of the frame of the camera that can be crucial evidence. Tons of times people expect camera footage to tell the complete story, when it almost never does. Prosecutors are probably have the most unrealistic expectations of all, IMO.
