Metro Council members are being asked to back a range of reforms that came out of a scathing 2023 report alleging widespread misconduct within the Louisville Metro Police Department.
The resolution has changed dramatically from when it was introduced in February. Dubbed “The People’s Consent Decree,” it initially called on city leaders to acknowledge “the institutional harms inflicted by, and existing discriminatory culture within, LMPD.” That version of the resolution received many of the same criticisms levied against last year’s version of The People’s Consent Decree, a resolution that Metro Council voted down by a wide margin.
The current proposed resolution, which one sponsor described as “watered down quite a lot,” may still not have the support it needs to pass. At a Public Safety Committee meeting last week, members voted 5-4 to recommend the full council reject it.
District 3 Democrat Shameka Parrish-Wright, one of the resolution’s cosponsors, said she believes it's important that Metro Council codify its commitment to reforming LMPD, now that the federal government is backing off. She said Metro Council members have talked about holding city leaders accountable to instituting the reforms anyway, but questioned whether they’ll follow through.
“If we can’t get this resolution through, then I don’t have confidence that we can do all of this additional oversight,” she said. “It shows where the political will is at.”
Even with the significant changes, the resolution still has many critics.
All the Republican members of the Public Safety Committee voted against the resolution, as did District 4 Democrat Kent Herndon. But two Democrats who opposed the original People’s Consent Decree last year did vote for this version: District 1’s Tammy Hawkins and District 2’s Barbara Shanklin.
Advocates responsible for changes
The newest version of the resolution asks Metro Council to endorse 10 reforms. They range from using appropriate de-escalation techniques to utilizing non-law enforcement teams for responding to someone in a mental health crisis.
The recommendations, sponsors argue, mirror the reforms city officials already agreed to when they signed a federal consent decree late last year.
This version also lacks many elements of what was reintroduced as The People’s Consent Decree in February.
In addition to demanding an acknowledgement of past harms, that version also urged city leaders to spend any budget surplus on affordable housing, health care and restorative justice practices — rather than the police department. It also called on the city to allow residents to observe contract negotiations with the police union.
The People’s Consent Decree Coalition, an alliance of activists and community groups that authored the initial version, proposed cutting those demands, Parrish-Wright said.
“I said that I would just quarterback whatever came out of their decision making,” she said. “So, that’s what we have.”
She said the latest version of the resolution was a collaborative effort by the coalition, including former Metro Council Member Jecorey Arthur, to try to gain enough support.
“I’m still strongly supportive of the first iteration of it, but the people, they wanted to get something passed,” she said.
In order to do that, Parrish-Wright said, they had to “water it down quite a lot.” Despite her reservations, she defended the resolution in the Public Safety Committee last week.
“None of this is anti-LMPD,” she said. “This is not anti-Mayor [Craig] Greenberg or Chief [Paul] Humphrey. This does not work against what they put together as their own version of the Louisville consent decree. This is a non-binding resolution.”
But Metro Council members who oppose the initial version said they still have concerns about the resolution.
District 24 Council Member Ginny Mulvey-Woolridge, a Republican, questioned the specificity of some of the recommendations the resolution asks Metro Council to endorse.
“I’m looking at No. 5 here, it’s, ‘LMPD officers respect the First Amendment rights of all persons including protests,’ but there’s nothing that states what ‘protests’ mean,” she argued. “Is it a civil protest? Is it a non-civil protest? Are we okay to block streets again?”
District 19 Council Member Anthony Piagentini, who heads the Republican Caucus, seconded her concerns, adding that the DOJ’s allegations of widespread misconduct and discriminatory policing within LMPD were never adjudicated in court.
Although Louisville signed a proposed consent decree late last year, under then-President Joe Biden, President Donald Trump’s administration has expressed reservations about the report’s conclusions and is attempting to quash the reform agreement.
“With that said, we still need to execute reforms,” Piagentini said.
Another sponsor of the resolution, District 6 Democrat J.P. Lyninger, insisted the committee move the resolution to the full council rather than table it again for another two weeks.
“I urge that we move this to council and it is voted upon and the people can see how people feel about this particular resolution,” Lyninger said.
The 5-4 vote against the resolution in committee means that it will be placed on Thursday’s agenda with a recommendation for disapproval, but it’s ultimately up to the 26 Metro Council members to decide.
Even if the resolution is voted down, Parrish-Wright said The People’s Consent Decree Coalition has helped get more residents engaged in the local legislative process.
“More and more people are learning about the decision-making, they’re learning about the different processes,” she said. “It’s exposing how a lot of this sausage is made.”
Metro Council will meet Thursday night at City Hall starting at 6 p.m.
