Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta Delivers Remarks on Civil Rights Violations by the Louisville Metro Police Department and Louisville/Jefferson County Metro Government

Remarks as Delivered

Thank you, Attorney General Garland. I want to thank Mayor Greenberg, Council President Winkler, Interim Chief of Police Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel, Louisville Metro, and LMPD for their cooperation with the Justice Department’s investigation. I also want to thank the outstanding team led by the Civil Rights Division for their tireless efforts on this matter. And I want to especially thank the many many community members who shared their experiences with our team during the investigation.

As the Attorney General announced, our investigation has revealed a pattern or practice of conduct that violates the United States Constitution and federal law. LMPD’s ability to serve and protect the people of Louisville has been compromised, and the findings are deeply troubling and sobering.

But we are committed to working with Louisville on a path forward to constitutional policing and stronger police-community trust. And that is why I am pleased that the Justice Department and Louisville have entered into an agreement in principle. In that agreement, we commit to negotiating a court-enforceable consent decree to ensure sustainable, constitutional and effective public safety and emergency response services in Louisville. By entering into this agreement, the city and the police department have taken a critical step forward and shown their commitment to moving expeditiously to implement reforms aimed at remedying the problems that we have identified through our investigation. And I want to commend them for taking this step. I also want to acknowledge that Louisville did not wait for us to issue findings to start instituting change. In the wake of Breonna Taylor’s tragic and terrible death, the city made changes through its settlement with her family, in addition to other measures.

The agreement in principle only represents a framework. And in the coming months, we will use this framework to negotiate a comprehensive consent decree with the city that will be filed in federal court. And we will soon be meeting with, and reaching out to, community members and law enforcement to hear your ideas about the kind of police department and policing you want to see in your community.

In negotiating and developing a consent decree, we will lean on the lessons we have learned from consent decrees in other cities across the country. We have learned – and I have seen firsthand – that consent decrees can lead to lasting and real change. Across the country, the Justice Department has worked collaboratively with not only city and police officials but also members of the public who are invested in finding better ways for their cities to meet public safety challenges. Our approach has led to significant improvements:

In Seattle, for example, the independent monitor reported a 60% decrease in the use of serious force since 2014.

In Albuquerque, the independent monitor recently reported serious uses of force drop by a third from previous years.

And in Baltimore, the independent monitor recently found that officers are using force less often.

We will apply these lessons in Louisville. And the consent decree we negotiate and implement here will address the specific context of Louisville Metro Government and LMPD, and this community’s needs. The agreement in principle commits us to including mechanisms in the consent decree that will facilitate ongoing participation of community members, as well as police officers, in the implementation of reform. We need this entire community to help us craft solutions that will result in real, lasting change in Louisville.

The agreement in principle also commits us to selecting a third-party independent monitor who will assist the court and parties in determining whether the consent decree is being implemented. In 2021, I reviewed the department’s use of monitors in these contexts and recommended, and the Attorney General agreed to, actions that ensure that policing consent decrees minimize costs, enhance transparency, involve voices from the community and move a community as efficiently as possible to the lasting change that we all desire and that the people of Louisville deserve.

As we move forward, we know that we can achieve constitutional policing only by using every tool available. In that vein, just this morning, the Justice Department’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services announced that it will produce a guide for police chiefs and mayors across the country to help them assess the appropriateness of the use of specialized units, like the unit formerly known as VIPER here in Louisville, as well as how to ensure necessary management, oversight and accountability of such units.

The Justice Department also supports co-responder and community responder models that pair law enforcement and behavioral health professionals to attend to people experiencing a crisis, which will free up law enforcement officers to address more serious, violent offenses and save lives.

These resources will be available to the LMPD, as they are to police agencies across our nation.

To the men and women of the LMPD: We recognize the many challenges faced by police officers in Louisville and communities across the country. And we know that police officers risk their lives every day in the line of duty. And we know also that you need the public’s trust to do your jobs effectively and to keep communities safe.

To the people of Louisville: Whether here or around the country, police reform won’t happen overnight or by chance. It will take time, along with focused effort and sustained commitment. In communities across America, even in communities where that trust has been broken, we have seen transformative reform rebuild relationships, advance public safety and bring us closer to this nation’s promise of justice and equality under the law. And in the months ahead – because of the proactive leadership in this city; because of the energy and vibrancy of this community; and because of this police department’s commitment for reform – together, we can shape that same progress right here in Louisville. Together, we can build a stronger Louisville: a Louisville that protects the safety, rights and dignity of all.

I will now turn things over to Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, who will discuss the findings of our investigation in greater detail.