LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The national spotlight has been on Arkansas’s capital city over controversial no-knock warrants.

New Little Rock Police Chief Keith Humphrey announced Wednesday he is implementing a no-knock search warrant policy, something that wasn’t in place beforehand, that includes a threat assessment.

“Each one stands on its own merit. That’s information that’s included to help us make a decision on the way we are going to approach that location,” says Chief Humphrey.

In 2018, Little Rock Police conducted 57 no-knock raids and 38 knock and announce searches. So far this year, the department has conducted six no-knocks and 23 knock and announce searches.

Police say the new policy is just a guideline, a point system, that judges previous charges, weapons that could be in the home, surveillance cameras around the house and so on.

If those points reach a certain level, it must be sent up the chain of command before a judge would be asked to sign off.

“It all depends on the information that’s received, the intelligence that’s received to determine what form of entry we are going to make,” says Chief Humphrey.

When asked if this new policy had prevented previous no-knock warrants from being conducted, Chief Humphrey said each and every warrant is different.

The new policy will require the police department to check their confidential informants annually to ensure their reliability is still intact, a policy that wasn’t in place before today.

Click here to read the new policy and how the threat assessment is broken down.