LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Louisville Metro Police Interim Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel was promoted to permanent chief Thursday in the Mayor's Gallery downtown.
The crowd was mostly full of police officers, reporters and city employees. But sprinkled throughout the crowd were community activists and faith leaders.
"We've been promised transparency, and I think today is a day of cautious optimism. We have someone who has been in the job, someone we want to see succeed, but there are a lot of unanswered questions," Pastor Tim Findley Jr. said.
Findley Jr., who previously ran for mayor and also is the CEO of ElderServe, is referring to Mayor Craig Greenberg and the city's decision to keep the finalists for the job confidential.
Greenberg told WHAS11 News last week that this was the advice of the firm conducting the search, and also that he was trying to keep the search secure and fair to all finalists.
He also said that it would have been unfair to current police chiefs in other cities who applied if their name was publicized.
"I think this is a different kind of job. This city is in a different kind of place, with the issues that we have seen," Findley Jr. said. "People are very hungry to know what's going on."
Findley Jr. acknowledged that Gwinn-Villaroel has had to navigate some big issues in her first six months as the interim chief, such as the Department of Justice report, the mass shooting at Old National Bank and the looming consent decree that Metro Government will have to enter with the DOJ.
"I am very optimistic and very hopeful that the interim chief --who is now the permanent chief-- will really come in and help stem the tide. But not just address violent crime, also address many of those issues within LMPD," he said.
Louisville NAACP President Raoul Cunningham was the most outspoken that the city should have released the finalists for the position --which we found out Thursday there were 20 total applicants and four finalists.
Cunningham met with the mayor on Thursday and several other organizations. Cunningham said he still felt the same way, but he is eager to work with the chief and move the city forward.
"We'll work with her," Cunningham said. "We want to know her better, and we want her to know us."
Greenberg also said that the city may not meet the 60-day deadline to release body camera footage and possible further discipline for officers mentioned in the DOJ report.
Greenberg and then interim chief Gwinn-Villaroel told the media and the public that Gwinn-Villaroel would review each case and give the community the results within 60 days. That deadline will arrive on July 25.
"We expect to be having more information on that. I would say it's probably within two weeks," Greenberg said. "We are working as quickly as possible to get that out. It might be a few more days than Tuesday but it will be within two weeks."
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