Omaha Police halt ‘standard entry’ for no-knock warrants after deadly shooting

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - Omaha Police are stopping the “standard” way they execute no-knock warrants.

“We’re making every effort that we can to make sure that these are safe for both our officers and the public,” said OPD Deputy Chief Scott Gray.

The order by OPD Chief Todd Schmaderer comes after one of his officers, Adam Vail, shot and killed 37-year-old Cameron Ford while executing a no-knock warrant.

“We want to look at what can we do to avoid an officer-involved shooting in one of these situations. Are there ways we can apprehend still the worst of the worst, the most dangerous offenders, without endangering ourselves and the offender?” said Gray.

This is not the first time Schmaderer has reviewed no-knock warrant policies. In 2021, OPD added oversight to its no-knock warrant policy following the killing of Breonna Taylor.

6 News obtained data from OPD to see how the department uses no-knock warrants.

According to that data, in the three years before Taylor was killed, OPD SWAT executed 314 no-knock warrants. In the three years after OPD added oversight in response to Taylor’s death, SWAT executed 110 fewer no-knock warrants.

Since 2021 and updating their no-knock policy, OPD has executed 276 no-knock warrants. For 136 of those, they used “standard entry.” That’s where law enforcement uses “active search methods as a means of securing the structure and mitigating risks more effectively and efficiently,” according to OPD.

In the case of Ford, officials said SWAT used “standard entry.” They explained this method is used under heightened threat levels. As reported earlier by 6 News, Ford’s threat assessment level was 80. A score of 25 or above is when SWAT gets involved.

Between 2021-24, OPD served 140 no-knock warrants another way, typically through some form calling the people out of the structure or to the officers.

For now, with “standard entry” halted, OPD will serve no-knock warrants using other methods, such as “breach and hold,” “surround and call out,” or executing it away from the residence altogether, said Gray.

Data obtained by 6 News shows about half of OPD’s recent warrant service has used standard entry, but until they review other possible safer tactics, Gray said standard entry will be on pause.

“[Chief Schmaderer] wants to do a full review. See if there are the other tactical options we can employ to reduce the chance of incidents like this were we have an officer-involved shooting,” said Gray.

OPD is looking at the placement of body-warn cameras for SWAT members since, in Ford’s case, the camera was obstructed by a shield. An alternative they mentioned is putting the camera on the helmet and/or the chest. That would help in the “aftermath” of an incident, said Gray, but the review they’re doing, now on no-knock policy focuses more on “what can we do to avoid an officer-involved shooting in one of these situations.”

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