FRANKFORT, Ky. — A task force led by Kentucky’s attorney general to address search warrants in the commonwealth met for the first time Monday.
Attorney General Daniel Cameron first mentioned the idea of a task force in September and announced the formal creation of the group in January. Members plan to put together recommendations for how to use them better, especially after Louisville police killed Breonna Taylor during a no-knock warrant last year.
“I think it’s very healthy for the attorney general and our law enforcement community and other stakeholders — defense attorneys, just citizens at large — to have a large and a big conversation; constructive conversation,” Cameron said.
Cameron waited to have the first meeting until after the legislative session, when lawmakers passed no-knock warrant reform with Senate Bill 4. The legislation largely bans the use of no-knock warrants and requires more oversight for when they are used.
The task force is made up of law enforcement, prosecutors, judges, and community groups.
Criminal defense lawyer Ramon McGee represents the NAACP on the task force.
“What you find more often than not is that there is a gap between the communities that are impacted by law enforcement and the judges who are ultimately tasked as gatekeepers to sign those warrants,” McGee said.
He’s looking forward to the work ahead, but worries about where the recommendations may go.
“The recommendations have to inform policy, and that’s really where we start to see how seriously the project of the task force is being taken,” McGee said.
Damon Preston leads Kentucky’s Department of Public Advocacy and he’s concerned there aren’t enough community voices: he only counts three or four members that don’t come from the law enforcement perspective.
“The membership of the task force shows that we’re going to be paying a lot of attention to how the individuals on one side of the door secured a warrant, how that’s being served, what review is going,” Preston said. “And that’s a completely legitimate process, but I’m concerned about the people on the other side of the door.”
He said no one on the task force has ever been the target of a search warrant, which could skew the recommendations the group ultimately drafts.
Cameron says the goal is to look at every aspect of search warrants and what works best for each part of the state.
“I’m certainly hopeful that this process will allow people to have stronger confidence in the process,” Cameron said.
Most of Monday’s meeting focused on the task force’s schedule moving forward: Cameron expects the group to have a list of recommendations by November and work will finish by the end of the year.
The next meeting will be June 21 at Eastern Kentucky University.