How the Louisville sheriff's KKK members show what's wrong with the FOP Contract | Opinion
In an article published on Nov. 5, Andrew Wolfson reported that two currently serving Jefferson County Sheriff's officers were former members of the Ku Klux Klan. These officers, Mike Loran and Gary Fischer, also worked for the previous Louisville Police Department and Jefferson County Police, respectively.
Responding to the news, Sheriff John Aubrey announced that his department will be requesting copies of their personnel files from their previous roles.
This timely and very real example illustrates why keeping personnel files and citizen complaints on record in perpetuity is absolutely critical for the safety of our community, and why Louisville Metro Council must take the upcoming vote on the River City Fraternal Order of Police Captains and Lieutenants contract very seriously.
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The community wants to know what Sheriff Aubrey will find when he reviews their personnel files from previous departments. Though shocking, many of us in the community, especially those who are Black, are not surprised that there are currently serving members of law enforcement who hold racist beliefs.
Wolfson’s reporting detailed an experience where a former colleague of Fischer’s, a Black woman, was called a racial slur by him and then he refused to work with her. If their supervisor were to document this atrocious behavior accordingly, it would be placed in his supervisory file (as it appears he was not formally reprimanded - a whole other issue still prevalent in today’s LMPD).
If this were to happen under the current FOP contract, this and other similar experiences potentially noted in the officer’s supervisory files would have been deleted after only a year, leaving Sheriff Aubrey with no previous records to review decades later. If the same thing were to happen to a citizen instead of a colleague, and a complaint was filed to the department, this would be deleted after only two years.
More: 2 Louisville sheriff's officers revealed to have been in the KKK are leaving the force
This should be incredibly alarming to hear given Wolfson’s reporting. The proposed FOP contract as well as the current contract both state under Article 18 section 4 that Supervisory Files are to be deleted after only one year.
These files include items that concern “the member's job performance or conduct, notes made in performance reviews or other counseling sessions with the member, copies of completed work assignments, drafts or work in progress and informal written communications between the member and the supervisor concerning performance or conduct issues.”
As for citizen complaints, the proposed contract mandates that many citizen complaints are to be deleted after only two years, a small improvement from the current contract which states they must be deleted after only 90 days.
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Metro Council has a duty to act on the community’s behalf and ensure that this critical and valuable information on all members of LMPD is kept in perpetuity. With this data, trends on officer behavior can be tracked and monitored.
After all, it was only a few weeks ago when it was reported that an officer within LMPD, who was involved in a shooting in 2018, was reported to be a member of the Oathkeepers, another far-right, racist, extremist organization.
Were there red flags there as well? Those who are in charge of investigating these officers must be able to conduct thorough investigations. The failure of both LMPD and Metro Government to keep records of performance issues, citizen complaints and behavior inevitably means the community will not learn the full extent in which harm may have been caused. And if that is the case, where is the accountability?
The power now lies in Metro Council’s hands. Metro Council must vote to send back the contract for further negotiations, so the Mayor’s negotiation team can ensure that all supervisory records and citizen complaints are mandated to be kept in perpetuity. They need to Vote No on November 11th.
The 490 Project is a grassroots organization working toward a Louisville where every member of our community has what they need to thrive and is safe from police violence. For more information on the CBA, and on the work of The 490 Project, visit the490project.com, or find us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @the490project.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville sheriff KKK members show what's wrong with FOP Contract: Opinion
