A legal battle is raging over the fate of the Louisville, Kentucky police. Federal officials are demanding that the city submit to oversight requiring reforms and rule changes, following national outcry after Louisville police killed Breonna Taylor in 2020. But the local police union is fighting back, asking a judge to throw out the agreement.
In December, the federal government announced it would implement a consent decree with the city of Louisville and its police department. A consent decree is a legal agreement between the federal government and a city, after the feds find the city has violated the law and the constitution. A judge and an independent monitor typically enforce it, to make sure the city changes rules and procedures for agencies in violation. A consent decree is also pending for police in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where George Floyd was murdered, as Filter recently reported.
But in Louisville the Fraternal Order of Police, a union representing the city’s cops, is seeking to prevent the agreement from going forward. The union filed a court motion in December, arguing the consent decree violates collective bargaining rights.
“This decree runs afoul of language in the [collective bargaining agreement] and changes the working conditions of our members,” the union stated. “The law requires that such changes be negotiated. It is incumbent upon the FOP to proactively attempt to avoid violations of the CBA and to ensure the best interests of our members are considered.”
On January 13, the federal judge heard the union’s challenge at the United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky. According to the Courier Journal, the judge suggested it might not be necessary to put the city under court oversight, referring to what he called the “intrusive role” of consent decrees. He also criticized the federal government for not providing more detailed information about unconstitutional policing practices, including the number of times Louisville Metro Police Department had used “excessive lethal force.”
A lawyer for the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division declined to give specifics, citing concerns the case might go to trial and the federal government’s need to “maintain leverage” in that event. Meanwhile, although Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg has said he accepts DOJ findings of misconduct against Louisville police, his counsel disputed at the hearing that this misconduct represented a “pattern or practice” of violations like discrimination, excessive force and denial of free-speech rights.
“Residents of Louisville, particularly Black and Brown people, have waited too long for comprehensive police reform.”
Also on January 13, the ACLU of Kentucky and 14 other advocacy organizations filed a “friend of the court” brief in support of the consent decree.
“Residents of Louisville, particularly Black and Brown people, have waited too long for comprehensive police reform,” the ACLU wrote in a statement. “It is Louisville Metro Police Department’s duty to deliver professional, effective services, fairly and ethically, at all times, to all people. The department, thus far, has failed to meet that duty.”
“The negotiated Consent Decree, while not containing everything the amici want or will demand in the future, has specific provisions that are critical for making systemic, lasting changes to LMPD for the betterment not only of the department itself, but also for the community,” it continued. “The step represents the minimum effort the City and LMPD must make to start a new era of community safety in Louisville and beyond.”
Corey Shapiro, legal director for the ACLU of Kentucky, shared with Filter his thoughts on the ongoing process, including the question of whether the police union’s legal efforts reflect a desire of the city and the LMPD to fight the consent decree.
“It’s hard to say,” he responded. “The negotiations have been confidential and there’s not much transparency around what was negotiated and what the give and take was. It’s hard to say what level of cooperation exists. What we heard yesterday was they agreed to these terms in order to avoid litigation … It’s no secret there will be things both sides didn’t get in a compromise.”
Shapiro also expressed doubts over the the police union’s legal standing, saying there are questions over its claim that the consent decree infringes on its collective bargaining agreement. The DOJ and city officials both stated that the consent decree must be consistent with the union’s existing agreements.
“I don’t want to see a situation where new leadership comes in and changes course after all these years of negotiations and investigation.”
Further uncertainties loom. With President-elect Donald Trump due to take office within days, major upheaval is anticipated for the Department of Justice and its Civil Rights Division. Trump and his DOJ took few civil rights enforcement actions during his first term, and tried to pull out of some pending consent decrees. President Joe Biden’s DOJ, involving Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Kristin Clarke, has been much more aggressive in investigating cities and police departments and pursuing consent decrees. Shapiro noted that Trump’s pick to head the Civil Rights Division, Harmeet Dhillon, lacks Clarke’s record on civil rights litigation.
“The court acknowledged the pickle that [it’s] in in terms of timing,” Shapiro said of the Louisville hearing. “You have a change of administration on January 20, a change in leadership in the Justice Department. It’s our hope this gets entered as soon as possible. As the judge asked and the attorneys for the DOJ and city acknowledged, no judge has ever rejected a consent decree like this when it’s brought to the judge on an agreed motion.”
“I don’t want to see a situation where new leadership comes in and changes course after all these years of negotiations and investigation,” Shapiro added. “That would be very problematic for the people of Louisville.”
In March 2020, Louisville police officers forcefully entered the home of Breonna Taylor, 26, a Black woman who worked as an emergency medical technician. A “no knock” warrant allowed them to break in as part of a drug investigation. Taylor’s then-boyfriend fired what he said was a warning shot amid what he thought was an unlawful intrusion, hitting an officer in the leg. Police then fired dozens of shots into the apartment. Taylor was struck by six bullets and killed.
No officers were convicted for the incident, and none were indicted for murder or manslaughter. The city reached a settlement with Taylor’s family to pay them $12 million—with no admission of liability or wrongdoing, and no possibility for the family to sue, but with a promise to reform policing.
The DOJ investigation found that LMPD engaged in a “pattern or practice” of illegal and unconstitutional behavior.
The Biden administration’s DOJ opened a civil rights investigation into the city in April 2021, and announced its findings in March 2023. The investigation found that Louisville and the Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) engaged in a “pattern or practice” of illegal and unconstitutional behavior: using excessive force, conducting invalid searches, using “no knock” raids, conducting illegal pedestrian and traffic stops, discriminating against Black people, violating peoples’ free speech rights, and discriminating against people with behavioral disabilities. The DOJ and Louisville reached an agreement “in principle” to commit to a court-ordered consent decree with an independent monitor, rather than go to trial.
That finally led, in December, to the DOJ announcing the terms of the consent decree with Louisville.
“In the wake of Breonna Taylor’s tragic killing, the people of Louisville fiercely advocated for racial justice, policing reform and accountability,” said Clarke of the DOJ Civil Rights Division. “City residents demanded that they receive the constitutional policing that they rightly deserve. Through this consent decree, Louisville and its police department have committed to addressing the violations of the Constitution and federal law we found during our investigation and to making Louisville a place where the police respect everyone’s rights.”
Here are some of the conditions that the consent decree, if implemented, will require:
* Louisville police must use deescalation instead of force when appropriate, and only use force that is reasonable and necessary.
* All search warrants must have accurate information and establish probable cause for anything to be searched or seized.
* Officers must enforce the law fairly and impartially, and reduce racial disparities.
* First Amendment rights, including criticism and video recording of police officers, must be protected.
* Non-police emergency teams will respond to people with behavioral disabilities, and any cops who are involved must be specially trained. A separate non-police service will respond to incidents involving unhoused people that do not require police.
* The LMPD will provide “effective supervision”, “robust training”, and the “support [officers] need to do their jobs safely and effectively.”
* The department will thoroughly investigate misconduct cases and hold officers accountable.
Photograph of a memorial to Breonna Taylor by Lorie Shaull via Flickr/Creative Commons 2.0
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