Bill > H3141

This bill amends Chapter 276 of the General Laws to enhance the safety of police officers when executing search warrants, which are legal documents authorizing law enforcement to search a specific location for evidence of a crime. Specifically, it establishes that officers must generally knock and announce their presence and purpose before forcibly entering a residence to execute a search warrant. However, officers are permitted to bypass this "knock and announce" requirement if they have a reasonable suspicion that doing so would endanger the safety of officers or others, lead to the destruction of evidence, or allow a suspect to escape. Furthermore, a search warrant can explicitly authorize officers to dispense with the announcement if an affidavit, a sworn written statement, demonstrates such reasonable suspicion, relieving officers of the need to re-evaluate their suspicions at the moment of the search. Crucially, any evidence obtained under these exceptions will be excluded, or "suppressed," if a later court review finds that the officers did not have the necessary reasonable suspicion to justify bypassing the announcement.