Pittsburgh, Allegheny County voters approve no-knock warrant ban, solitary confinement restrictions

No-knock warrants will be banned in Pittsburgh and solitary confinement will be restricted at Allegheny County Jail after voters overwhelmingly approved two ballot questions in Tuesday’s election.

Voters petitioned to add the questions to the ballot and they had broad support from both city and county residents, according to Brandi Fisher, who leads the Pittsburgh-based Alliance for Police Accountability.

“There was an overwhelming response from people who wanted these to be passed,” Fisher said.

The no-knock warrant ballot question was limited to voters in Pittsburgh. It amends the city’s charter to ban city police from serving a warrant without announcing themselves.

About 81% of voters, or more than 49,000, supported the measure, according to unofficial results.

It is similar to other laws passed across the country that were inspired by Breonna Taylor’s shooting by police in Louisville, Ky., during a botched raid on her apartment.

Plainclothes officers entered the apartment just after midnight on March 13, 2020, to serve a warrant that was part of a drug investigation. Taylor’s boyfriend, who was with her in the apartment, fired what he called a warning shot after police broke down the door and rushed in. Police returned fire, killing Taylor.

None of the officers were charged with a crime specifically tied to Taylor’s death. (Neither Taylor nor her boyfriend was the subject of the drug investigation; police say they were investigating a former boyfriend suspected of mailing packages to the apartment.)

Prosecutors said the officers were “justified in their use of force” because Taylor’s boyfriend fired at officers first. One officer was charged with wanton endangerment because he fired blindly through a door and window.

Pittsburgh police do not use “no-knock warrants,” officials have said, and Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr.’s spokesman Mike Manko said there isn’t a way for law enforcement to request such warrants in Pennsylvania.

Given that’s the case, Fisher and others who supported the ban said there shouldn’t be a problem with enacting one.

The amendment to the city’s charter is stronger than a similar ordinance council has been considering for adoption because council could always amend an ordinance, but changing the charter again would require another referendum, Fisher said.

Confinement question

The other ballot question voters approved bans solitary confinement for Allegheny County Jail inmates except in cases of lockdowns, medical or safety emergencies, and protective separation requests.

Nearly 70% of voters, or more than 166,000, supported the measure, according to unofficial results.

Many people in the jail are there because of probation violations or as they await court cases, but if they violate rules of the jail, solitary confinement is used as a punishment, Fisher said.

“It’s inhumane,” she said.

Both ballot questions were intended to address public safety issues that can prevent problems before they happen, Fisher said.