Weeks after vowing to cut down drastically on the use of no-knock raids, Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo on Thursday drilled down into some of the specifics of his new department policy, which requires more oversight and forbids narcotics officers from carrying out the high-risk busts.

Instead, effective last month, SWAT teams will execute all unannounced raids, but only after getting approval from top-ranking Houston police officials and a signature from a district court judge.

“You don’t want to eliminate them completely,” Acevedo told a Houston City Council committee Thursday afternoon. “There are instances where the no-knock warrant tactic is probably the safest.”

The newly announced policy marks a sharp shift from past practices, when narcotics officers could routinely go to municipal court judges and county magistrates to get approval for drug raids - then carry them out without the back-up of experienced SWAT teams.

The changes come in response to a Jan. 28 raid that turned into a shoot-out, leaving a Pecan Park couple dead and five narcotics officers injured. The botched bust has since morphed into a scandal officials are still struggling to contain amid ongoing questions about the justification for the raid.

The new policy could address some of those concerns, though it won’t eliminate the use of no-knock warrants altogether - despite Acevedo’s claim last month that the risky raids would “go away liked leaded gasoline in this city.”

In the case of Harding Street, it was a municipal court judge who greenlit the controversial warrant, which authorities later realized may have contained false claims about an informant that apparently didn’t exist. Moving forward, police will only be permitted to go to district court judges for warrant approval, a move Acevedo said would alleviate any appearance of impropriety.

“One of the complaints (was) that, ‘Well, they’re agents of the actual city,’” he told council members.

And, though it was a narcotics squad that led the raid, drug police will only be permitted to serve knock-and-announce warrant in the future, and only with a lieutenant present at the scene. All no-knocks will go to SWAT teams, and will require approval from one of the department’s top lawmen.

Also, Houston police will start using ballistic shields and body cameras during forced entries. And - unlike at Harding Street - one buy will no longer be enough to justify a raid.

“We know that they’re dangerous for everybody,” Acevedo said.

Police initially burst in the Harding Street home of Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas searching for a pair of heroin dealers. But the deadly raid netted few drugs and sparked angry outcry from the couple’s friends and family who maintained they weren’t selling narcotics.

In the weeks following the raid, Acevedo said Officer Gerald Goines - the veteran case agent who requested the search warrant - will likely face criminal charges for allegedly lying about using a confidential informant to conduct an undercover buy. The department subsequently relieved Goines of duty, along with his since-retired partner, Officer Steven Bryant.

Meanwhile, the Harris County District Attorney’s Office announced it was reviewing more than 2,200 of Goines’ and Bryant’s old cases, and the FBI launched a civil rights investigation into the circumstances behind the raid. Those probes - along with a pair of Houston police investigations - are still ongoing.

st.john.smith@chron.com

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