Northeastern legal experts say early morning raids are a deliberate tactic used by the FBI to catch targets off guard, reduce the risk of confrontation and prevent the destruction of potential evidence.
Like so many police raids, the FBI executed a search warrant at former national security adviser John Bolton’s Maryland residence and Washington, D.C., office in the early morning hours on Friday.
The timing is no accident. Northeastern University experts say early morning raids are a deliberate tactic used by the FBI to catch targets off guard, reduce the risk of confrontation and prevent the destruction of potential evidence.
In the Bolton case, that could mean potentially classified material.
Northeastern’s Daniel Medwed, a university distinguished professor of law and criminal justice, says the early morning operation gives agents the element of surprise.
Medwed notes that law enforcement officials may also conduct raids at night “for tactical reasons — to benefit from the element of surprise that could minimize the risk of evidence destruction, a violent response from a resident or the risk of flight from a suspect.”
“Part of the calculus is whether the goal is to conduct a search or make an arrest,” he says. “The downside of surprise, as we know all too well from the tragic death of Breanna Taylor in Louisville after the execution of a ‘no-knock’ warrant, is that people may respond erratically when surprised.”
Rose Zoltek-Jick, an associate teaching professor of law and associate director of the Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project, notes that the timing of FBI raids depends on whether agents are conducting a search or carrying out an arrest. In the case of the Bolton raid, it was only the former.
Morning raids are standard practice, Zoltek-Jick says, because they do not require authorization from a judge or magistrate.
“It’s just pure efficiency,” Zoltek-Jick says. “It’s the beginning of the shift; agents have time to discuss and effectuate their plans, and then they execute.”
But not all FBI-led searches take place in such a public manner: often it is in the interest of law enforcement to conduct raids discreetly, she notes — especially as it concerns potentially dangerous suspects or sensitive material.
To obtain a warrant to search someone’s home, the FBI must present probable cause, which must be approved by a judge or magistrate. An official from the FBI told NBC on Friday: “The FBI is conducting court-authorized activity in the area. There is no threat to public safety.”
The Bolton raid is part of a broader investigation into allegations that he used a private email server to send “highly sensitive” classified documents to his family while serving in the White House.