Fri. Feb 14th, 2025

Louisville Metro Police and Justice Department agree on civil rights plan

By: Lucas Aulbach

With a 242-page document in hand and police and federal officials at his side, Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg announced Thursday that Louisville Metro Police and the city’s government reached an agreement on a consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice.

“This consent decree agreement will ensure our officers are committed to protecting the constitutional rights of residents while improving public safety and preventing violent crime for our entire community,” the mayor told those in attendance at Metro Hall.

The consent decree will guide police practices moving forward, the result of nearly two years of negotiations between local leaders and federal officials. And while many cities and police departments with consent decrees across the country have remained under federal supervision for a decade or more, Greenberg believes Louisville is on a path to be “in full compliance in five years or less.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney General Kristen Clarke, who spoke alongside Greenberg and LMPD Chief Paul Humphrey, said the lengthy agreement will put the city and its beleaguered police department on a new path, with measures that will:

  • Revise LMPD use-of-force policies, with an emphasis on de-escalation;
  • Require LMPD to improve residential search warrant practices, with safeguards on use of confidential informants, require a thorough review of search warrant applications along with \”safe and lawful tactics\” during warrant executions;
  • Ensure LMPD only conducts stops and searches that are constitutional and do not discriminate based on race;
  • Push LMPD to develop alternatives to arrests and citations for minor issues such as broken tail lights;
  • Strengthen the department\’s response and investigations into sexual assault and domestic violence allegations, including those that involve police officers;
  • Improve training, supervision and accountability for officers;
  • Ensure the city and police department improve response to public protests;
  • Ensure \”fair and objective investigations of alleged misconduct\” and continue to support civilian oversight;
  • Provide non-police responses to situations involving behavioral health crises involving unhoused people when possible;
  • And strengthen efforts to promote officer wellness.

“We’re committed to moving earnestly and swiftly down the path of reform set forth in this decree,” Clarke said. “We have every confidence that Louisville can and will satisfy the requirements of the decree.”

Mayor Craig Greenberg, center, made remarks about the consent decree issued by the Department of Justice as Assistant U.S. Attorney General Kristen Clarke, left, and Louisville Police Chief Paul Humphries looked on during a press conference at the Mayor's Gallery in Louisville, Ky. on Dec. 12, 2024.

The last time Clarke spoke in Louisville alongside city leaders, it was to discuss results of a scathing audit investigation into the city and its police department’s violation of citizens’ civil rights, particularly Black people — and to announce plans for the DOJ and the city to collaborate on the consent decree.

That was March 2023, about three years after the police killing of Breonna Taylor, which sparked protests in Louisville and around the nation. Thursday’s press conference was a result of negotiations that had taken place since then.

Clarke acknowledged the city “has not been standing by idly” in recent years. Louisville has already banned no-knock warrants, implemented a new program allowing mental health professionals to respond to some 911 calls, expanded community-based violence prevention services and enhanced support for officers’ health and wellness.

But “police reform doesn’t happen overnight,” she said, calling on Louisville residents to attend public meetings and continue to push for accountability. “This process will take time, but it will reap dividends down the line.”

The timetable was a notable point. Greenberg expressed confidence all of the terms would be met within five years. Portions of the agreement can be terminated “once substantial compliance has been met,” he said.

“Our hope is that we meet these requirements for a period of two years, and that we’ll be able to terminate partial portions of the agreement even before that five-year period,” the mayor said. “In five years, the burden of proof shifts to the Department of Justice to prove that the city is not in compliance with the agreement.”

Much of that five-year period will take place with President-elect Donald Trump in the White House, as he’s set to take office on Jan. 20. Trump’s administration in his first term administration fiercely opposed to police reform consent decrees, and experts argued if Louisville and the DOJ did not come to terms before President Joe Biden’s term ends, it would likely not happen. Greenberg had declined to commit to signing the agreement ahead of Thursday’s announcement.

Asked whether Louisville is committed to the consent decree regardless of who’s president, Greenberg said “that is our plan.”

“That is our path forward regardless of who is president, regardless of who is attorney general,” he said

Key background on the DOJ report and consent decree discussions

The 90-page DOJ report that led to the consent decree was released in March 2023 found evidence LMPD had violated the civil rights of Black people, along with “vulnerable people throughout the city,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said at the time. It spanned from 2016 to 2021, when former Mayor Greg Fischer was in office.

Investigators found police in Louisville had frequently used excessive force, conducted searches based on invalid warrants and executed warrants without knocking and announcing, unlawfully stopped and arrested people during traffic and pedestrian stops, violated the rights of people who had been lawfully critical of police, did not adequately investigate sexual assault or domestic violence (including officers accused of misconduct) and, along with city officials, discriminated against people with behavioral health disabilities.

“This conduct is unacceptable. It is heartbreaking. It erodes the community trust necessary for effective policing, and it is an affront to the vast majority of officers who put their lives on the line every day to serve with honor — and it is an affront to the people of Louisville,” Garland said at that 2023 press conference.

The report included 36 remedial measures, including improving use-of-force policies and training, adopting new search warrant request and execution policies, reforming street enforcement and traffic stop practices, implementing new community engagement measures, expanding on mobile crisis response team programs, building better community engagement and improving police training practices.

Taylor’s killing occurred about three years before the report was released. She was shot and killed in March 2020 by LMPD officers executing a search warrant at her apartment as part of a drug investigation. No drugs were found at the residence.

Three officers with LMPD at that time — Myles Cosgrove, Brett Hankison and Jonathan Mattingly — fired their weapons that night. Cosgrove and Mattingly were not charged, but Hankison was tried on several counts of wanton endangerment over bullets that entered a neighboring apartment. He was found not guilty in state court but was later found guilty of violating Taylor’s civil rights in a federal trial.

Taylor’s family received a $12 million settlement with the city in September 2020, the largest payout ever on behalf of local police, and Louisville Metro later reached a $2 million settlement with Kenneth Walker, Taylor’s boyfriend at the time of her killing. He fired one shot at police that night after they entered her apartment using a no-knock warrant and has said he did not know they were officers.

Federal charges are pending against several other former officers involved with the warrant at the center of the case. Kelly Goodlett, Joshua Jaynes and Kyle Meany were accused of violating Taylor’s civil rights on allegations they’d knowingly falsified information in the affidavit used to obtain the search warrant.

Goodlett pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to violate Taylor’s civil rights. Some charges are still pending against Jaynes and Meany, but in August, District Judge Charles Simpson III dismissed felony deprivation of rights under the color of law charges against the pair, ruling Walker’s decision to fire at officers that night resulted in her death.

Jaynes is still charged with conspiracy and falsifying a document to mislead investigators, while Meany is still charged with making a false statement to the FBI. And in October, prosecutors reintroduced the charges that had been dropped earlier this year.

What is a consent decree?

A consent decree is a court-enforced agreement between parties — in this case, the DOJ and LMPD along with city government — that includes steps to correct issues, with an independent monitor to report back to the court. In 2023, Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta said the Louisville consent decree would “ensure sustainable, constitutional and effective public safety and emergency response services in Louisville.”

Consent decrees are not required to hold to one specific timetable. Consent decrees in other cities have put police departments under federal review for as long as a decade.

New Orleans agreed to a consent decree with the DOJ in 2013 that was in place until earlier this year. The Baltimore Police Department is still under a consent decree after being placed under federal oversight in 2017.

Still, Louisville’s mayor said he’s confident Louisville’s consent decree will be terminated within half a decade.

“To those in our community who demanded change, thank you for speaking up and staying the course on that long road hat led to these reforms,” Greenberg said, additionally thanking those who worked on the negotiation team.

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