LARGO, Fla. (WFLA) – Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri announced Tuesday that his agency has changed the way it serves search warrants.
It comes on the heels of high-profile incidents across the U.S., including the death of Breoanna Taylor, a Kentucky woman shot and killed when police served a warrant on her boyfriend’s home.
“The preservation of life and the mitigation of harm to members or occupants and the public in general are paramount considerations when deciding how to serve a search warrant,” the sheriff said during a press conference.
Gualtieri hopes the changes cut down on the risk for all involved.
As of Sept. 1, the sheriff announced that deputies must conduct surveillance to see who lives at a home or business and how often they come or go.
Deputies cannot go through with a so-called “dynamic entry,” where they use force to enter, unless completely necessary, he said.
Once a suspect leaves a location, he or she is to be arrested off-site, Gualtieri said. Then, deputies are allowed to serve the search warrant on the empty location.
He stressed the no-knock warrants are not used in Florida. That was the type of warrant issued during the Taylor case, reports show.
“So any concern that people have in the State of Florida to not allow these judge-issued no knock warrant[s], they cannot happen here in Florida. The Florida Supreme Court has said there’s not basis for them,” the sheriff told reporters.
In the Taylor case, her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, shot at officers, reports say, thinking they were intruders. They fired back striking Taylor, according to reports.
“They refused to answer when we yelled, ‘who is it?'” Walker said. “Fifteen minuets later Breonna was dead from a hail of police gunfire and I was in police custody.”
Gualtieri stressed that search warrants are normally served for drugs issues.
“Nobody’s life is worth drugs,” he said. It’s not worth anyone getting hurt or killed over it.”
