U.S. Attorney Merrick Garland speaks during a press conference on the Justice Department’s findings regarding a civil rights investigation into the Louisville Metro Police Department and the Louisville Metro Government on March 8, 2023, in Louisville, Kentucky.
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WASHINGTON – The Louisville Metro Police Department and Metro Louisville/Jefferson County governments engaged in a pattern of unconstitutional behavior by routinely using excessive force, conducting illegal warrant-based searches and unlawfully discriminating against black people in their enforcement activities, a broad federal investigation found . meet.
The review, conducted by the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, also found that police violated the rights of people who “engaged in protected speech critical of policing” and that some officers used racial slurs about black residents. The city has reached an agreement in principle to resolve constitutional violations found by federal investigators, the Justice Department said.
The report is similar to those published in several other cities, including Ferguson, Missouri, after the death of Michael Brown in 2014. The Trump administration withdrew from a federal investigation into unconstitutional policing, and the investigation into Louisville was announced early in the Biden administration. , in 2021.
The Louisville investigation comes after a botched police raid that led to the death of Breonna Taylor in March 2020. Four Louisville officers were indicted in August in Taylor’s death. The DOJ’s patterns-and-practices investigation is not a criminal investigation, but rather a systemic problem within the police department.
“Breonna Taylor is a symptom of a problem that has been going on for years,” one Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) chief told federal investigators. The report stated that police actions “do not happen in a vacuum” and noted that “segregation, poverty, and violence” affected policing in the racially segregated city. The police department, which is 81% white, is charged with patrolling a predominantly black neighborhood.
The report noted that officers “have a difficult job” and said that the LMPD and Louisville/Jefferson County Metro governments “do not provide the support and resources to officers and other employees to do their jobs effectively and legally,” and that they have “lack of training , substandard facilities and equipment, and inadequate support for mental health and well-being.”
“For years, LMPD has engaged in an aggressive style of policing that has been deployed selectively, particularly against black people, but also against vulnerable people throughout the city,” the report said. “LMPD cites people for minor infractions, such as wide turns and broken taillights, while serious crimes like sexual assault and murder go unchallenged.”
A protester holds a sign with a picture of Breonna Taylor, a black woman who was shot dead by Louisville Metro Police Department officers, during a protest against the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, in Denver, Colorado on June 3, 2020.
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“Some officers showed disrespect for the people they were sworn to protect,” the report continued. “Some officers have videotaped themselves throwing drinks at pedestrians from their cars, mocking people with disabilities, and calling Black people ‘monkeys,’ ‘animals,’ and ‘children.’ This action undermines public trust, and the unlawful practices of LMPD and Louisville Metro undermine public safety.
Political bias is baked into the LMPD, the report found. A July 2018 department document said the extremist group Three Percenters “believes law enforcement has been handcuffed by politics and wants to help us do what we believe is right,” and applied the Three Percenters’ description of themselves as “patriotic citizens who love their country, their freedom, and freedom.”
At a news conference Wednesday morning, Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said he and Louisville Metro Police Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel “are taking action to reform and improve the way our police department operates.”
“The US Department of Justice is demanding that we act. The people of Louisville are demanding that we act,” said Greenberg, who along with Gwinn-Villaroel was sworn in in January 2023.
Kentucky state Rep. Keturah Herron, a Democrat who pushed for Breonna’s Law, which limits the use of no-knock warrants in the state said a review of Louisville police practices is a long time coming.
“The things we found in this investigation are things that the public has been saying not since Breonna Taylor, but for decades in Louisville,” Herron said. “To finally be able to get some kind of acknowledgment that LMPD has terrorized the black community specifically, but also people with disabilities … is a relief. But now the work begins again.”
– Chloe Atkins contributed.