‘I go by facts.’ Lexington Mayor Gorton, challenger Kloiber spar over crime, data

Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton and Lexington-Fayette Urban County Councilman David Kloiber got into a heated exchange over gun violence and strategies to curb shootings and murders during a Thursday council meeting.

Kloiber, who faces Gorton in the November general election, referenced a Wednesday night shooting near the University of Kentucky that injured 11 people and has resulted in three arrests. None of the injured people have life-threatening injuries.

Kloiber and Gorton’s exchange came on the same day that Lexington police dealt with multiple additional gun violence incidents. Later Thursday night, there was a homicide on Devonia Avenue, where one man was shot. Lexington police also killed a suspect who allegedly shot an officer at the Extended Stay America on Tates Creek Road. That shooting happened around 10:43 p.m. Thursday.

“We have a real public safety crisis,” Kloiber said. Continuing to throw more money and hire more police officers is not the only answer, he said.

“What we are currently seeing is the policy we have in place is just not working with the resources we currently have and that means we need to adapt,” he said.

The city needs to look at group violence intervention, a program that has been pushed for years by BUILD, as a way to stem gun violence, Kloiber said. Group violence intervention targets areas and groups that are involved in crime and provides additional resources.

Gorton shot back that several cities that used group violence intervention have seen homicides increase. Memphis, Tenn., has used group violence intervention and its homicide rates have continued to climb.

“There was no way our police could have prevented what happened,” Gorton said, referring to Wednesday night’s shooting on University Avenue.

Gorton further addressed the issue Friday morning during a news conference, which took place after a suspect was killed and an officer was injured in a shooting Thursday night. Gorton repeated her plea toward the community to speak up about gun violence, encouraging anyone with any information to come forward to police.

“We won’t give up on this,” Gorton said. “The community has to be a part of the solution. When people know things about crime or about who has illegal guns or whatever it is, they need to call Crime Stoppers.”

During Thursday’s dispute with Kloiber, Gorton said Kloiber needed to talk to police and do more research.

“I go by facts,” Gorton said.

Kloiber countered that group violence intervention studies have shown reduction in homicides. Those studies are peer-reviewed, he said.

Gorton asked that if that was true, why are many cities moving away from group violence intervention after previously using it.

“GVI is not working,” Gorton said.

Kloiber said he recently attended a meeting in Gainesway off of Centre Parkway sponsored by Councilman Fred Brown where people talked about their concerns about rising crime rates. Gorton should listen to what people are saying, Kloiber said.

“You weren’t there,” Kloiber said.

Gorton shot back that Devine Carama, the director of One Lexington, the city’s violence intervention programs, attended the Gainesway meeting. Carama is trying to put in place more intervention models to address shootings and violence, particularly with teens.

“Not all of these things can be solved by the police,” Kloiber said. “Your unwillingness to deal with this other than a reactionary police measure is frustrating to the people who are experiencing this everyday.”

In a campaign email sent later Thursday night, Kloiber called Gorton “out of touch “and “continues pushing unproven and ineffective policies” when it comes to crime.

Gorton continues to spend more on police but shootings continue to spike, Kloiber said in the email. Meanwhile, police vacancies continue to climb and “we’ve experienced year-over-year increases in the numbers of homicides and violent crime.”

Back to the bargaining table

On Tuesday, the council asked Gorton to take the unusual step of asking the city’s police union if it could open up a recently-approved contract to increase officer pay again.

Gorton told the council during Thursday night’s meeting the union has agreed to talk to city officials about pay through a memorandum of agreement, which acts as an addendum to the police contract. That means the entire contract will not have to be renegotiated.

But Gorton cautioned the city’s other bargaining units — corrections and fire — will also likely want to have their pay adjusted. That means the council will have to make cuts or increase taxes to pay for those salary bumps, she said.

Gorton said they would return to the council to approve those memorandum of agreements once they are negotiated.

The city approved a four-year police contract with the union in 2021 that upped starting pay and increased salaries for current employees. It was estimated at the time that the contract will cost the city an additional $21.4 million over the four years of the contract.

In addition, the city has funded additional one-time bonus payments for public safety officers to help with recruitment and retention.

Gorton’s administration said there are currently 83 vacancies in the police department with 29 officers in training. The Fraternal Order of Police Bluegrass Lodge 4, which represents police officers, says the number of vacancies is close to 115.