LOUISVILLE, Ky. — People in an eastern Jefferson County neighborhood will start to see different police cruisers patrolling around their streets.
The city of Lyndon, a Louisville suburb of 12,000 residents, officially launched its own police force Tuesday afternoon. It'll replace the Graymoor-Devondale Police Department, which had been responding to incidents in the area for more than a decade.
"They have the resources to fund what we need, to provide the services that people expect and deserve, so that's what we're going to do," Chief of Police Grady Throneberry said.
At a news conference, city leaders said the decision came down to Lyndon having a bigger budget, allowing them to fund more officers.
"Twenty-six is the goal. We need another detective, there are quite a few open cases," Lyndon Mayor Brent Hagan said.
Hagan said Graymoor-Devondale's 20 officers will automatically transfer over, with the intention of adding detectives and a social worker. Throneberry said while they haven't seen an increase in overall crime, they have seen an uptick in calls to respond to mental health crises.
He said the need for timely response has become even more vital.
"They're going to see a little more of us," Throneberry said regarding the community.
Graymoor-Devondale PD had been the area's contracted police response since July 2021. The move came after concern over LMPD's ability to respond to east end areas like Hurstbourne, Windy Hills and Beechwood Village because of staffing shortages.
"That triggered in our minds that we were going to have to do something, and do it fairly quickly, so this is the solution that we came up with," Throneberry said.
Hagan said the shift won't require any additional tax dollars and told WHAS11 that existing funds in the budget will cover more hires.
According to Mayor Hagan, the transfer would provide the City of Graymoor with four years of unbilled police protection in exchange for the assets of the entire department.
However, after four years, Graymoor would need to pay for additional protection.
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