Negotiations between Louisville Metro and the Department of Justice over an agreement on how to transform the city’s troubled police department are nearing the final stretch, according to Mayor Craig Greenberg.
At a press conference Tuesday morning, Greenberg said city leaders are hopeful the deal, known as a consent decree, can be finalized by “early fall.” The consent decree will serve as a framework for reforming LMPD to address discriminatory policing, excessive use of force, and other concerns the DOJ raised in its scathing report last year. Consent decrees have been used to pursue reform of police departments in other cities — like Baltimore, New Orleans and Chicago — with mixed results.
“There have been regular ongoing negotiations over the consent decree language,” Greenberg said Tuesday. “Many of those [negotiations] have taken place here in Louisville, but this week they are in Washington, D.C. working all day, every day, to move that process forward.”
Greenberg did not specify which city officials are currently in Washington, D.C. as part of the negotiating team. His spokesperson, Kevin Trager, said David Kaplan, Greenberg’s general counsel and chief of staff, is one of the people at the table.
Some top public safety officials like Deputy Mayor David James and LMPD Interim Chief Paul Humphrey were attending events in Louisville Tuesday.
Greenberg said he thinks negotiators may have lost “a week or so” due to LMPD’s recent sexual harassment scandal, including the forced resignation of Chief Jackie Gwinn-Villaroel.” But he said he expects they will make up that time in Washington, D.C. this week.
“Interim Chief [Paul] Humphrey was very involved with the negotiation of the consent decree,” Greenberg said. “Now, as interim chief, he’s still, of course, very involved … It was not a material impact on the schedule.”
Discussions between Louisville Metro and DOJ officials began shortly after federal investigators released their findings on unconstitutional policing practices by LMPD in March 2023. Since then, the DOJ has held multiple community meetings to solicit input from residents.
City officials announced in February they’d received a draft agreement from the DOJ, but refused to release specifics. They say the DOJ is requiring confidentiality.
If the sides are able to reach an agreement by the end of the year, it could allow Louisville to avoid the uncertainty that may come with a second term for former President Donald Trump. During his first term, between 2016 and 2020, the Republican’s DOJ all but abandoned the consent decree process, calling it a heavy-handed federal intervention into local problems.
A federal judge would need to sign off on any consent decree between Louisville and the DOJ. It would also be overseen by an independent monitor, who would be responsible for ensuring e the city is making progress toward the changes outlined in the agreement.
