A trio of Louisville Metro Police Department commanders are ensnared in an internal investigation into an officer’s use of the city’s license plate reader database, according to records obtained by the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting.
LMPD Chief Paul Humphrey initiated the Professional Standards Unit investigations into Lt. Col. Nicholas Owen, Major Stephen Lacefield, and Lt. Jeremy Ruoff last month after KyCIR revealed officer Wesley Troutman listed immigration enforcement-related keywords on 150 searches of the city’s license plate reader database.
Humphrey wants to know what the three commanders knew, said or did in relation to Troutman’s searches. Troutman was already under investigation when Humphrey expanded the inquiry to include them.
LMPD manages a somewhat secret network of nearly 200 license plate readers, supplied by the company Flock Safety. The devices take photos of passing cars on public streets and catalog the information in a database shared with law enforcement across the U.S. In November, KyCIR published a report detailing how outside agencies can access the city’s license plate reader database for immigration enforcement.
KyCIR’s analysis of database searches found Troutman listed “ERO” – an acronym for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations – as the reason for 123 searches he ran in March 2025.
Troutman also ran 27 Flock searches listing “Immigration” as the reason, KyCIR found. All the searches were done not long before federal officials announced they’d arrested 81 immigrants in Kentucky as part of an operation “coordinated out of Louisville.”
A city ordinance restricts how LMPD is allowed to assist ICE.
When initially asked about the searches using the “Immigration” keyword, an LMPD spokesperson said they were actually related “to criminal activity, not immigration status” and that department officials “found no evidence of misuse.”
Humphrey ordered the PSU investigation into Troutman four days after KyCIR asked about the "ERO" searches, according to public records obtained by KyCIR.
The records show Humphrey expanded the scope of the investigation into Troutman’s Flock searches three times last month:
- On Nov. 3, to examine if Troutman ”improperly shared his login credentials” with DEA agents or anyone else.
- Then, on Nov. 4, to investigate Ruoff’s “involvement and/or knowledge regarding” Flock searches related to immigration.
- And again, on Nov. 10, to investigate Lt. Col. Nicholas Owen and Major Stephen Lacefield’s involvement or knowledge of such searches.
The records also show Humphrey told investigators to look at the commanders’ possible involvement with how Troutman responded to LMPD directives for information about his Flock searches.
LMPD’s investigation includes Troutman’s conduct related to memos he prepared about his Flock searches, “in response to official requests.”
When Humphrey expanded the investigation to include Ruoff, he said it should look at Ruoff’s “knowledge, actions, comments and/or conduct regarding any direction given to” Troutman “concerning his memos and responses to directives for information concerning FLOCK searches.”
Similarly, Humphrey’s order to investigate Owen and Lacefield’s possible involvement said to check what both men knew, said or did “regarding any direction given” to either Ruoff or Troutman about Troutman’s memos and responses to such directives for information.
In 2024, Humphrey promoted Owen to assistant chief of the support bureau. His annual salary is $183,201. Lacefield was promoted to the rank of major in January 2025. His annual salary is $164,569. Ruoff has been a lieutenant since at least 2020 and is paid $131,268, according to an online city database.
