LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg told WHAS11 that consent decree negotiations are expected to be complete by the end of this year.
A consent decree is a federal, legally bound agreement used to mandate reforms within a city or agency. Louisville and the U.S. Department of Justice agreed in principle to one back in March 2023 after DOJ released its findings from an investigation into the Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD).
Negotiations started in February 2024, and the process has been done behind closed doors with members of the Mayor's office, attorneys, LMPD and DOJ officials.
"We do want to get this done so that we can have the roadmap for the future," Greenberg told WHAS11 in an interview on Tuesday.
Despite being just two weeks removed from his own police chief stepping down -- at his request -- Greenberg said they've made progress with the DOJ. That's amid a string of sexual harassment claims within LMPD coming to light.
They're issues he says have not tied the city's hands in negotiating its consent decree, the document that'll require police make a series of changes and prove they can sustain them over time.
When asked whether the cloud of sexual misconduct allegations and lawsuits weaken the city's leverage to reach the agreement they want, Greenberg answered, "I don't think so. This isn't a question about strengthening or weakening hands. This is a situation about getting the document right."
We posed a similar question to LMPD interim Chief Paul Humphrey in a sit-down interview on July 2, asking if he worries some of the controversy will make it harder to negotiate with the DOJ.
"No. I mean, negotiations are going to go forward, the way they're going to go forward," Humphrey said. "What is the right way and the best way to do things is the right way and the best way to do things regardless of what's happened in the last few weeks."
Consent decrees aren't cheap. Every year that goes by could mean millions in local taxpayer dollars spent. The city has already allotted nearly $400,000 in its approved budget for consent decree monitoring.
"We don't want to be under a consent decree for a decade as some other cities have," Greenberg told us. "That could be millions and millions of dollars if this goes on for a decade or more. We don't have those resources."
"Our goal is to agree to a consent decree and to comply with a consent decree as quickly as possible, and then continue moving forward."
There's also the question of what could change if former President Donald Trump were elected in November.
University of Louisville constitutional law professor Sam Marcosson told WHAS11 the shift could be major.
"There's every reason to believe that even if a consent decree is in place before the Biden administration would leave under this scenario, that its enforcement would be much less than rigorous during a Trump two administration."
Even once an agreement is reached, a federal judge would have to sign off on the consent decree before it becomes legally bound.
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