What we know about the inner workings of Mayor Craig Greenberg's search for an LMPD chief
Through nondisclosure agreements and by refusing to name finalists for the job, Louisville Metro Government has ensured few details about the inner workings of the search for the city’s next police chief are known to the public.
But through publicly available promotional materials, documents obtained under Kentucky’s open records law and conversations with the Mayor Craig Greenberg’s office, The Courier Journal has been able to piece together some details about what the hiring process looks like.
To conduct its search for its next police chief, the city hired Public Sector Search & Consulting, a Rocklin, California-based firm that bills itself as the only national firm focused “exclusively on recruiting police executives.” According to a contract obtained by The Courier Journal under Kentucky’s open records law, the city agreed to pay the company $95,000 to help find LMPD’s next chief over a six-month period.
Last month, Greenberg said the city had 19 candidates. He also announced the creation of a seven-person interview advisory committee to help vet candidates.
Greenberg spokesperson Kevin Trager said on July 5 that the administration expects to select a chief by the end of the month and that interviews would be taking place over the next two weeks.
However, he also said the city will only release details about who gets the job, foregoing naming finalists or holding panels with candidates — as is standard practice in other cities.
The secretiveness surrounding the hiring process prompted backlash, including from the Louisville branch of the NAACP, which said in a statement: “Mayor Craig Greenberg’s pre-election pledges of transparency are sounding more and more like empty rhetoric.”
Here’s what we know about Louisville’s search to hire its next police chief.
Seeking a Louisville police chief: The brochure
Details about the hiring process can be found in a 12-page electronic brochure posted to Public Sector Search & Consulting’s website advertising Louisville’s top police job.
The brochure — illustrated with photos of Waterfront Wednesday, the Belle of Louisville steamboat, Churchill Downs and the now-abandoned former police headquarters building downtown — said Metro Government is looking to hire “a transformational leader who is innovative, reform-oriented, data-informed, and community-minded.”
It was also quick to mention the Department of Justice’s recent scathing report on LMPD, a likely consent decree and the fractured relationship between police and the community.
“The next Chief will increase transparency and implement meaningful community-led reforms while embracing fair, impartial, and constitutional policing,” the company wrote. “The Chief will be expected to improve the police department’s internal policies, practices, and systems to address structural and institutional racism, bias, or other practices that divide the community and/or the workforce.”
It added: “The community expects the next Police Chief to begin the process of rebuilding trust in the police department by strengthening and developing more authentic relationships between the LMPD and Louisvillians in every community.”
In the brochure, the company told potential candidates the selection process was “confidential.”
While encouraging candidates to apply by June 23 for “optimal consideration,” the firm said the position would be considered open until a final selection is made.
Candidates were asked to send a cover letter, resume and list of references to the company.
“Only the most highly qualified candidates will be invited to participate in the selection process in late June 2023,” the company wrote. “The top candidates (typically three) will be forwarded to Mayor Greenberg for consideration.”
Finding qualified candidates for LMPD chief
In pitching its services to Louisville Metro Government, Public Sector Search & Consulting used the very first line of its proposal to hone in on the tumult and divide the city and the country experienced in 2020.
“The killing of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd ignited protests and outrage not seen since the civil rights era,” the company wrote. “This led to national and local conversations about how public safety services are delivered and how police interact with the community, particularly with African American men, and those experiencing mental health issues.”
Former LMPD Chief Erika Shields had implemented some reforms, the company added, but “there is still a tremendous amount of work to be done.”
Public Sector Search & Consulting told the city that it could identify and screen candidates, receive feedback from the community and even help negotiate a compensation package with Greenberg's pick.
To find qualified candidates, the firm said it would:
Vet internal candidates from within LMPD
Identify candidates from “other large municipalities” and contact them to gauge their interest
Use “a proprietary internet tool to search for and contact police executives” who may be looking to find another job
Use personal contacts of Public Sector Search & Consulting staff.
To make its case, Public Sector Search & Consulting showcased recent chief searches it was hired for in Atlanta, Minneapolis, Seattle, Nashville, Dallas, Albuquerque and elsewhere. In all, its staff — dominated by retired police chiefs — had taken part in over 60 police executive searches in five years, the company said.
The firm also highlighted its record of attracting diverse candidates, mentioning that 60% of its clients selected a candidate “from a traditionally underrepresented group.”
The company said it will divide candidates into classifications of “recommended,” “qualified” and “others” before presenting them to the search panel. Then, the company said a group of candidates — “typically 4-8” — would advance to panel interviews.
Some recommendations not followed in search
The search firm made several recommendations that were either not followed or were only partially followed by the city.
Among them were naming finalists and holding a “Meet the Candidates” event that would have either centered around “public vetting” or a “candidate interview forum.”
But Greenberg's office has emphasized several times that the names of finalists will be kept secret, even making the seven members of the interview advisory committee sign nondisclosure agreements.
Despite public concern, Greenberg spokesperson Kevin Trager said July 5 that the city would "definitely not" hold any publicly broadcast candidate forum.
The search firm also suggested a private meetings with the finalists and LMPD employees. But Angela Ingram, a public information officer with the department, said no meetings will occur.
Ingram said she was also "not aware of a survey distributed specifically to LMPD employees," which was another recommendation by Public Sector Search & Consulting. Instead, employees "were free to participate and provide input in the mayor’s community survey regarding LMPD’s police chief," she said.
The survey contained four questions directly relating to policing, three of which asked citizens to rank predetermined lists of qualifications, priorities and leadership qualities.
In an email, Ingram said LMPD respects "the process that the mayor has implemented in naming LMPD's next permanent police chief."
The firm also recommended conversations with eight to 10 “small community focus groups” like city officials, community partners and advocacy groups — including “NAACP, Urban League, LGBTQ leaders, and disability, homeless and mental health advocates, faith community leaders, neighborhood/business leaders, and others.”
This suggestion was made to “help provide a community perspective that should be considered throughout the process,” according to the contract between Public Sector Search & Consulting and the city.
The city held over a dozen focus groups, said Matt Erwin, communications director for Greenberg's office. However, representatives from both the Urban League and the Louisville branch of the NAACP did not attend one.
Leaders from both organizations were asked to participate in a focus group, said Erwin, who provided evidence of the email invitation to The Courier Journal.
However, neither Lyndon Pryor from the Urban League nor Raoul Cunningham from the Louisville NAACP recall seeing the email. Both men said they would still be willing to meet with the city. At this point, neither has given direct input into the hiring process. However, in a press release Sunday, the NAACP was sharply critical of the secrecy surrounding the process, calling on the city to name finalists and hold public forums.
Other recommendations were followed, but not to the degree that the search firm suggested.
For example, the firm recommended that the city hold three to four forums to “allow community members who were not involved in a focus group to express their thoughts about the type of candidates they would like to lead LMPD.” Two of these community forums were held, not three or four.
The forums were online and lasted about an hour, with participants given the opportunity to take part virtually on their own devices or at public libraries.
The search firm also suggested interviewing "internal stakeholders," including "the rest of the city council.” While there was not a required group meeting or interviews with the mayor, Councilman Jeff Hudson said Greenberg highly encouraged him to reach out with his thoughts on the police chief.
Hudson said Greenberg has an “open door” and specifically texted him to ask “if there were any suggestions I wanted to make about the police chief.”
Councilwoman Paula McCraney, the Democratic Caucus chair, is also serving on Greenberg’s seven-person advisory committee.
Louisville's last permanent chief, Shields, was named in January 2021 following a nationwide search by a different firm. Like the Greenberg administration, then-Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer did not disclose finalists or hold any kind of public vetting of candidates.
More: Louisville mayor's police chief search using NDAs, other secretive policies
Reach reporter Josh Wood at jwood@courier-journal.com or on Twitter at @JWoodJourno. Reach reporter Eleanor McCrary at emcrary@courier-journal.com or on Twitter at @ellie_mccrary.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville's police chief search: Details on Greenberg's process
