The man who leads independent investigations into police oversight in Louisville will serve another four years.
Metro Council members voted Thursday night to approve the reappointment of Inspector General Ed Harness. Alongside the Civilian Review and Accountability Board, the Office of Inspector General reviews misconduct complaints against police officers and makes recommendations to the Louisville Metro Police Department based on its findings.
Police reform advocates and Black community leaders had pushed city officials to reappoint Harness, despite the sometimes-tense relationship between him and LMPD leadership over the past four years. Mayor Craig Greenberg announced his plan to nominate Harness for a second term last month.
District 1 Council Member Tammy Hawkins, a Democrat and vice chair of the Public Safety Committee, voted in favor of reappointing Harness. She said ahead of Thursday’s vote that she believes he’s been “very true to the community.”
“He’s been very transparent in this process and he’s not afraid to speak up,” Hawkins said. “He’s very bold.”
Hawkins added that Harness, a former police officer and lawyer, is qualified to do the job.
Metro Council members narrowly approved Harness’ reappointment during the meeting, with all 12 Republicans voting “no.”
During a committee meeting last week, Republican Caucus Chair Anthony Piagentini, a Metro Council member representing District 19, said he’s been skeptical of Louisville's civilian oversight board “since the beginning.” He said the conflict between the Office of Inspector General and LMPD leadership has been concerning him.
“We don’t have a partner working with LMPD to improve things, instead we have an institution which is recommending things that don’t align with the law,” Piagentini said.
One case Piagentini referenced was the IG’s investigation earlier this year into the 2022 police shooting of Omari Cryer. Based on the investigation, the CRAB found officers made false statements on a search warrant application and criminal complaint in that case.
LMPD Chief Paul Humphrey pushed back, calling the findings “crap” and “false information.” The Jefferson County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office determined the officers “acted within the law.”
“Now I see two of the highest law enforcement officers, who I have tremendous respect for, who have now disagreed with the OIG,” Piagentini said.
In response to questions posed by other council members in committee, Harness said he thinks the job of the Inspector General is not to agree with the police chief on everything, but to “examine the evidence that’s before us.” And he noted that the IG’s findings were not at odds with Commonwealth’s Attorney’s, since the IG looks not at policy violations, not criminal ones.
Harness told reporters last month that he thinks that Louisville “is in a new era now,” with Greenberg and Humphrey signing the Community Commitment earlier this year. That document outlines a multi-year plan for reforming LMPD, mostly mirroring the consent decree that the U.S. Department of Justice sought to impose on Louisville under President Joe Biden’s administration.
That agreement was never ordered by a court, since the Justice Department under President Donald Trump withdrew its support.
The city recently hired the firm Effective Law Enforcement for All to be an independent monitoring team overseeing implementation of the plan.
Harness said he wants to spend his second term building on the existing foundation, and improving the relationship between the Officer of Inspector General and LMPD.
“We’ll be refining the work that we do,” he said. “The Civilian Review and Accountability Board has already approved a memorandum of understanding recommendation that has been forwarded to the chief, which we believe will bring our operations in line with the Community Commitment."
In a statement last month, LMPD said it looked forward to continuing working with Harness and his team to “ensure our work reflects community expectations and the highest standards of integrity.”
