The Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) began operations on January 6, 2003, as part of the creation of the consolidated city-county government in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. It was formed by the merger of the Jefferson County Police Department and the Louisville Division of Police.
The Louisville Metro Police Department was most recently headed by Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel since January 2, 2023. On Tuesday June 25, 2024, Chief Gwinn-Villaroel resigned following an ongoing sexual harassment and abuse scandal among the Louisville Metro Police Department. Major Paul Humphrey was appointed Interim Chief by Mayor Craig Greenberg. On September 27, 2024; Interim Chief Paul Humphrey was sworn in as Chief of Police for LMPD by Greenberg.
LMPD divides Jefferson County into eight patrol divisions and operates a number of special investigative and support units. The LMPD is currently negotiating a consent decree with the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) subsequent to a 2023 investigation by the DOJ that concluded that the LMPD engaged in a decades long pattern of civil rights abuses.
History
While the Louisville Metro Police Department began in 2003, its origins lie in two police departments dating back to the 1800s, the Jefferson County Police Department (JCPD) and the Louisville Division of Police (LPD).
Louisville Police Department
The Louisville Police Department, also known as the Louisville Division of Police, came into existence in 1806 with the appointment of five "watchmen" by the town's trustees. In 1821, a captain of the watch was appointed, directly responsible for crime prevention and the apprehension of criminals. The first Sergeant was hired in that year, whose primary duty was to see that the trustees' wishes were carried out.
In 1830, after the city government switched to a mayor-council arrangement, the position of captain was replaced by an elected "Marshall". In 1851, the mayor was put directly over the police. In 1856, a mayor-appointed office of Chief of Police was created, a position that earned $2,000 a year. The next year, the police force was reorganized in the image of modern police departments in the East, with the watchmen being called "policemen".
Following the Civil War, the Kentucky General Assembly passed an act to reorganize the department. The police department was given county-wide jurisdiction. Unfortunately, there was much corruption, as the police department was appointed by the city council. Thus the makeup of the police department depended heavily on the political affiliations of the council members.
Divisions and districting came into use shortly thereafter, with two divisions and several districts (the number depended on the time of day) being established.
In 1891, the department first purchased bicycles to serve with mounted police. The practice of using bicycles would wane throughout the 20th century, but would see a revival in 1993 as they served as an effective alternative to motor vehicles. Three Cadillacs were purchased in November 1908 to address the problem of lawbreakers making getaways in the "horseless carriages". In 1932, the Louisville Police Department began using radios for dispatching units, only the fifth department in the nation to dispatch cars in this manner. Motorcycles were introduced shortly after the cars, but were discontinued in 1984 due to high maintenance costs.
Politics were part of the police department until 1929, when the state's Civil Service act prohibited discrimination on the basis of politics or religion. A Civil Service Board was established, consisting of three members of each political party with the mayor serving as a tiebreaker.
On May 20, 1921, Alice Dunlop became the first female officer in the Louisville Police Department, with Bertha Whedbee becoming the first African American to be a police officer in Louisville. While technically equal with their male counterparts, females were only employed in limited capacities. In 1938, the four policewomen of the Louisville Police Department were dismissed because it was thought that there were no duties which required a woman. A policewoman would next be appointed in 1943, with nine more being appointed in as many years. In 1969, Urania "Kitty" Laun became the department's first sergeant and later appointed lieutenant and the first female district commander.
Decentralization of the department began in 1974. Traffic and detective bureaus remained in the Headquarters Building at Seventh and Jefferson, while other units were placed at various districts.
In 1982, the Louisville Board of Aldermen passed an ordinance allowing the mayor to remove the chief of police for specific reasons. The law was later amended to provide the mayor with the ability to both appoint and remove the chief, following the demotion of Chief Richard Dotson by Mayor Jerry Abramson in 1990.
On March 2, 2002, Louisville Mayor David L. Armstrong fired Police Chief Gene Sherrard due to a banquet honoring officers for exceptional valor. Two officers being honored for facing immediate danger were controversial as to what constituted immediate danger to these officers. The suspect in the case of these two officers, Desmond Rudolph, had left the house the officers went to through the back door and went to a stolen vehicle. Rudolph, who was unarmed, attempted to drive off, but there are conflicting statements as to if the car was operable or not. The view of the policemen involved was that the car was operable and, believing they may be struck by the vehicle, constituted a danger to their lives, while the opposing view is that the policemen did not follow proper police procedure by failing to secure the rear exit and that the car was inoperable and did not pose any danger to the officers. Rudolph was shot by the two officers 22 times and Rudolph died from his wounds. After the firing of the chief of police, many Louisville policemen marched in front of Louisville City Hall to protest the firing of Sherrard and demanded the resignation of Mayor Armstrong.
In 2003 Robert C. White was appointed by Jerry Abramson as the first African-American chief of police in Louisville.
In 2019 LMPD concealed hundreds of thousands of records relating to child sexual abuse by its officers. In response to an inquiry by The Courier-Journal the department said it no longer held any records, when it fact it held at least 738,000 records which were later deleted.
The U. S. Department of Justice on April 26, 2021, issued a press release, which stated:
Jefferson County Police Department
The Jefferson County Police Department was established in February 1868. In 1902, police officers providing their own horses were compensated an extra $10 each month. Two years later, this practice ceased with a wage increase from $40 to $60 monthly for officers. The first chief of police to be granted use of a county car was Harry Kendall in 1918. Following a letter from Chief Ambrose Hagerman noting that there were no river deaths in 1932 due to the introduction of rowboats, the county approved the purchase of a motorboat.
Jefferson County's Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team was formed in 1971. In 1981, JCPD received authorization from the Kentucky Law Enforcement Council to conduct annual in-service training. In 1999, it became certified to conduct its own police academy. At the time of merger, JCPD was divided into four patrol districts: Adam, Baker, Charlie and David.
Merger
During the 1990s, certain specialized elements of the county and city police departments began joint operations. Most notable were the photo and fingerprint labs, the narcotics bureaus and the crimes against children departments. The purpose of this merger was to provide more efficient and cost-effective service.
JCPD and LPD ceased to exist as separate entities on January 6, 2003, when the Louisville Metro Police Department became effective as part of the city-county merger.
Police reform measures On June 10, 2020, the Louisville city council voted unanimously to ban no-knock search warrants. The law is called Breonna's Law, in honor of Breonna Taylor who was killed by police during the execution of a no-knock search warrant. (The detectives were granted the no knock exception but the officers executing the search warrant chose not to use it.) The new law requires all officers who serve warrants to wear body cameras and have them turned on from at least five minutes before the warrant is served to at least five minutes after it is served.
On June 18, 2020, Louisville Metro Police Department policy was changed so that all officers will have a new duty to intervene when they see misconduct from their fellow officers. The new standard operating procedure says that officers should act to prevent other officers, "regardless of rank or assignment, from using unlawful or excessive force".
In April 2021, the United States Department of Justice announced a wide-ranging investigation of the LMPD. The investigation will examine patterns of abuse, including excessive force, unconstitutional stops, searches and seizures, and whether officers discriminate on the basis of race.
The Justice Department said on March 8, 2023, that there was "reasonable cause to believe" that the Louisville Metro Police Department broke people's civil rights. This was the result of an investigation that started after Breonna Taylor's death.
Controversies
The Louisville Metro Police Department has had officers accused of misconduct, fired, and other officers have been arrested. Below are some of those incidents. This is not an all inclusive list. While the Louisville riots of 1968 had many causes (most directly, the spread of false rumors and bottles being thrown into the crowd) the crowd where the riot began had gathered to protest the possible reinstatement of a white officer who had been suspended for beating a black man some weeks earlier. As the crowd became unruly, police attempts to disperse it were ineffective, but this was a common problem police departments of the day had. In 1982, Michael VonAllmen was arrested and charged with rape and related crimes. After serving eleven years in prison for the crime, he was released on parole. In 2010, courts overruled the conviction. In 2011, VanAllman sued the police department over the case, claiming misconduct had led to his false conviction."Man sues former Louisville police officials over wrongful conviction", The Courier-Journal, June 1, 2011 One of the first and most widely covered controversies faced by the post-merger department was the shooting of Michael Newby on January 3, 2004, in the predominantly black Shawnee neighborhood. Newby, a 19-year-old black male in possession of drugs and a firearm, was shot by McKenzie Mattingly, a white police officer, in what authorities described as an undercover drug deal gone bad. After they struggled and Newby went for Mattingly's gun, Mattingly fired four times, hitting Newby three times in the back, killing him. An internal police investigation found that Mattingly did not face an "immediate threat", although Newby did have a .45-caliber gun in his waistband. Mattingly was fired from the department and charged criminally, but acquitted of all charges in September 2004. The nature of the incident and trial sparked a number of protests and demonstrations by members of the community. The city eventually paid $250,000 to Newby's mother to settle a lawsuit. On November 6, 2006, the President of the LMPD officers' Fraternal Order of Police Lodge criticized the mayor of Louisville in a 30-second video for his not providing adequate resources to LMPD. In the video, he also endorsed Mayor Abramson's Republican opponent in the 2006 mayoral election. The video implied that the mayor was causing officers to use an outdated and ineffective radio communications system and that he had not hired enough police officers to ensure public safety.