Seeing vindication in DOJ report, community calls for transparency in reform work ahead
Vindication and validation.
To many community members, the findings detailed in the U.S. Department of Justice report on the Louisville Police Department were confirmation of what they’ve long known to be true.
“It is what we said it was and worse,” said Sadiqa Reynolds, former president and CEO of the Louisville Urban League. “There is a pattern and practice of unlawful behavior, and it has been reinforced by a pattern and practice of silence, often due to the fear of retaliation. We must get it right. Our very lives depend on it.”
The 90-page report from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division released Wednesday outlined multiple critiques of the police department, finding it discriminates against Black residents.
“Locally, what people have been saying for years has now been elevated on a national stage,” said Pastor Tim Findley Jr., who leads Kingdom Fellowship Christian Life Center.
He was gripped by the report’s specific language around the treatment of Black citizens.
“Black people were targeted and terrorized,” he said. “And that is a huge, huge reality that leadership, that the (Fraternal Order of Police) must deal with, that Black people have been terrorized in Louisville for a very long time.”
Louisville attorney Ted Shouse, who represented several individuals charged while protesting the police killing of 2020 Breonna Taylor, noted the movement’s role in bringing about the federal investigation.
"In one word, this report is, in fact, vindication," he said. "It is only through the recognition of these facts that we can hope to have any path forward."
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Chris Will, a lead protester in the Louisville social justice protests of 2020, said while the report called out the police department for violating constitutional rights of Black citizens, he wished there were more direct repercussions for officer conduct during the protests.
“Something I know is not going to happen is a complete (overhaul) of this whole thing,” he said. “Greenberg is going to have to be like King Arthur with Excalibur to solve all of this … if he’s not going to fix it, if he’s not going to stand up to LMPD and the (police union) and do something, then he’s got to go, too … We just want to see results. That’s it.”
Calls for transparency
Inclusion of the community and transparency in the work ahead emerged as a key point for many as the city tackles the 36 recommendations detailed in the report.
The 490 Project, an activist group against police violence, reiterated its calls for transparency in upcoming collective bargaining agreement negotiations between the police union and the city as a meaningful first step toward change.
“Community involvement in any agreement involving the FOP, whether it be a consent decree or the CBA process, requires community input to be transparent and bring real, needed change to Louisville,” the organization said in a statement.
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While the River City Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 614 said it looks forward to partnering with local and federal officials on next steps, it called the DOJ report "an unfair assessment" and said its findings "should be dissected for evidentiary value."
The union chiefly blamed "continued leadership failures" by past city administrations and LMPD leadership for tarnishing the department's reputation and causing staffing declines, spikes in violent crime and inadequate facilities and training.
"The FOP has bemoaned these leadership failures for years — to no avail," the statement reads.
The Louisville branch of the NAACP implored city leadership, the Metro Council and the police department to ensure transparency in the next steps toward reform.
It called for detailed and regular reporting on improvements, public police contract negotiations and strengthening oversight powers of the city’s new Inspector General.
Others expressed doubt that the institution of policing could be fixed.
Hannah Drake, Louisville writer and activist, said reform is only as good as the people executing it.
“So, here’s my question that I really want to know … how many of those same officers are still employed at LMPD? What changes?” she said. "You’re working with the same ingredients. You’re going to bake the same cake."
Councilman Jecorey Arthur, D-4th, said the findings “should be no surprise to Metro Council” but hopes it will push the body to act, though he called the institution of policing “a failed project.”
The path to enacting change
Changing pattern and practice speaks to cultural overhaul, said state Senate Minority Leader Gerald Neal, of Louisville. The self-described optimist said while this is a tall task, he sees real opportunity for lasting change.
“The community needs the police, and the police need the community,” Neal said. “And the situation that’s here that has existed historically cannot be tolerated a day longer. So, it’s going to take everybody of good will and responsibility to carry this out without favor.”
Louisville Metro Council members expressed a commitment to supporting reform work.
Metro Council President Markus Winkler, D-17th, said the report hit on challenges with oversight and leadership that the council has voiced in recent years.
“I think it's critically important that we put these practices in place and make sure that we are policing constitutionally and fairly for citizens across our community,” Winkler said.
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He noted Metro Council’s oversight role of the executive branch of local government, as well as its power to fund possible initiatives that come out of the consent decree process.
Minority caucus chair, Councilman Anthony Piagentini, D-19th, said the caucus believes the city is moving in the right direction, and the council is focused on improving training, policies and support for the police department.
“We must simultaneously ensure full compliance with the Constitution and all state and federal laws while reducing homicides and violent crime,” he said in a statement.
Minutes after federal authorities stood in the Mayor’s Gallery downtown and unveiled their findings Wednesday, Mayor Craig Greenberg said he was committed to enacting reforms.
“This report paints a painful picture of LMPD’s past,” he said. “But it helps point us in the right direction for our future and to the next phase in the process of police reform in Louisville.”
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville PD DOJ report: Citizens call for change, transparency
