Louisville Metro’s Inspector General will investigate allegations that the police department’s homicide unit held a drunken party at their offices in 2019 and the ensuing internal inquiry, the city’s Civilian Review and Accountability Board decided last week.
According to previous reports by WDRB News and the Courier Journal, anonymous complaints to the city and police department in 2019 alleged that officers drank alcohol and had sex in the homicide offices on West Ormsby Avenue during a retirement party. An internal police investigation found no evidence to support the allegations.
But another anonymous complaint submitted to the city’s Inspector General in May alleges the incident was “not investigated thoroughly,” said Edward Harness, the Inspector General, at a Civilian Review and Accountability Board meeting last Wednesday. Harness told the board that the complaint “alleges unethical behavior and abuse of police authority occurred during a retirement party and during an investigation.”
Harness said his office established “reasonable suspicion” that violations of policy occurred during a preliminary investigation into the party, which he told the board consisted of reading previous reports and investigative material. Based on that review, he recommended the board approve a full investigation. The board voted to open the investigation at Wednesday's meeting.
Harness told KyCIR the full investigation could take up to 6 months.
KyCIR asked LMPD officials and Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg’s spokesperson for a comment on the investigation. They have not yet responded.
The Metro Council created the Office of Inspector General and Civilian Review and Accountability Board in 2020. With approval from the board, the Inspector General is empowered to investigate complaints involving members of LMPD and the public, including abuse of police authority. Harness said this investigation into the party falls under this authority.
The Inspector General investigation comes on the heels of multiple sexual harrassment claims made by LMPD officers. The claims prompted Mayor Craig Greenberg to announce changes in the way the department handles training, investigations and discipline related to workplace sexual harassment. A press release from Greenberg’s office lists the Office of Inspector General as one avenue LMPD officers can take to report sexual harassment.
At a press conference in June, Greenberg said he is working with Chief Paul Humphrey to strengthen training around workplace sexual misconduct, as well as investigations and discipline.
“The reforms that we have been working on were not enough in this area,” he said. “We will do more, more to ensure LMPD and Louisville Metro Government is free from sexual harassment, more to transform LMPD’s culture.”
‘A classic whitewashing’
The allegations stem from a February 2019 retirement party for Maj. Todd Kessinger, now executive administrator of Security and Investigations for Jefferson County Public Schools.
According to one person who spoke to LMPD, the party started late in the morning and continued until later that night, with at least two people needing rides home because they were too intoxicated. An anonymous complaint to the city’s ethics tipline claimed to hear two people having sex in an office in the homicide unit.
Then-Chief Steve Conrad ordered an investigation after two complaints.
LMPD Maj. Frank Hardison, who was commander of the Special Investigations Division, interviewed 54 people and found nothing to support the allegations, which Hardison summed up as “hearsay.”
"Beyond question, these allegations are very serious. However, the evidence discovered during this investigation does not reveal anything which would provide any level of validity to these allegations," Hardison wrote.
Instead, Hardison said some current and former officers went to a local bar around 4 p.m. and drank alcohol before returning to the office a few hours later. Hardison said officers arranged for a ride home for one person who was upset after talking about a recently deceased colleague.
Conrad found the allegations that prompted the investigation were unfounded and no further action was taken.
A fight for transparency
WDRB News filed a lawsuit against LMPD in 2020 after the agency withheld the names of officers who were under investigation for their involvement in the alleged party.
Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron ruled that LMPD violated the state’s open records law by redacting the names of officers who were interviewed about the party, but Cameron said LMPD was within the law when it redacted transcripts of witness interviews and the names of officers accused of misconduct.
WDRB sued to overturn that decision.
“This gives the appearance of a classic whitewashing,” an attorney representing WDRB news wrote in a motion for summary judgment. “A coordinated attempt by senior LMPD officers to appear like they were investigating serious misconduct while taking no real disciplinary action and then adopting tortured conclusions meant to shield everything they could from the public’s view.”
The River City Fraternal Order of Police filed a counterclaim against WDRB seeking to prevent the release of surveillance footage and the names of officers involved in the investigation. The FOP argued releasing identifying information would violate officers' privacy and expose officers to “public humiliation.”
The court granted in part WDRB’s motion for summary judgment, according to court records, prompting LMPD to release partially redacted documents and surveillance footage.
