Getting a warrant for a no-knock raid was supposed to be relatively difficult. “But judges generally rely on the word of police officers and rarely question the merits of the requests, offering little resistance when they seek authorization for no-knocks, a Washington Post investigation has found. The searches, which were meant to be used sparingly, have become commonplace for drug squads and SWAT teams. Criminal justice experts estimate that police carry out tens of thousands of no-knock raids every year nationwide.” Some of those raids, as we know all too well, can be deadly. And most of them are targeting what end up to be pretty low level drugs operations. An investigation from WaPo (Gift Article): No-knock raids have led to fatal encounters and small drug seizures.