LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg was proud of the terms he and Metro Government agreed to with the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Thursday.
Louisville will have to satisfy over 75 "key objectives" that deal with everything from serving search warrants, to supervisors handling sexual harassment complaints more seriously, helping mentally handicapped people avoid law enforcement and more.
One thing Greenberg kept saying was that this was a "new model" for consent decrees, and that it "builds off of work Louisville has already done to address police misconduct."
WHAS11 News read through the 242-page consent decree and found it has 13 major improvement areas or "pillars." They include use of force, applying for search warrants, serving search warrants, street enforcement, fair and impartial enforcement, interacting with protestors, supporting victims of sexual misconduct and more.
Jason Johnson, a former deputy police commissioner in Baltimore who helped negotiate their consent decree in 2016, said many of these improvement areas were in their consent decree.
"This consent decree, just upon my quick review of it...In most ways it's very similar to all of the Obama, Biden consent decrees," Johnson said. "Each jurisdiction has some areas that are unique to that jurisdiction. So, for Louisville, it's the focus on residential search warrants."
The one major difference Johnson found is on page 227. It says the consent decree will end five years after the date it is formally accepted by a judge, unless the United States can prove through "a preponderance of evidence" that Louisville Metro has not fulfilled all the terms in the agreement.
"I believe it's the first time I've seen this," Johnson said. "There is a five-year burden shift...The Department of Justice will be required to demonstrate and prove to the court that the areas they believe are not in substantial compliance, are not in substantial compliance."
Johnson does not think Louisville will achieve "substantial compliance" for the entire agreement in five years. His evidence for saying that is in the eight years since Baltimore has signed a consent decree, they have only completed five of their 17 pillars.
He does think the burden shift wording could help Louisville get out of the agreement quicker but says the DOJ has enough resources to prosecute a case and prove a city is not in substantial compliance.
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