LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Concerned residents in Louisville Metro Police’s First Division are a sharing their concerns with the Office of the Inspector General.
The goal during Tuesday night’s session at the Portland Community Center -- to improve the relationship between the community and police.
Inspector General Edward Harness brought the idea of community policing councils to Louisville from his tenure working under the Albuquerque Police Department in New Mexico.
The first round of meetings allowed residents to share what they would like to see and how the OIG can be a community partner.
“When we file a complaint – you know you have to file a complaint, that was the main thing. I don’t know if people took that away, but you have to put it on paper,” resident Lorenzo Tucker said.
Resident Frank Anderson shared his thoughts saying, “Maybe to help us solve some of the solutions and some of the problems that we have been having in the City of Louisville between Metro Government and Metro Police for years.”
Harness said Metro Police was invited to the meeting but did not attend.
“It’s disappointing that the department didn’t take advantage of this opportunity to engage with the public,” he said.
In a statement released to WHAS11 News, Metro Police said:
“We appreciate the OIG’s efforts at implementing the measures he deems necessary to assist with moving forward towards ensuring constitutional policing and strengthening police-community relationships. LMPD welcomes input from the community and has hosted and participated in several community forums to hear the concerns of the citizens we serve. LMPD supports the OIG’s initiatives and the work of his office for a better Louisville. We look forward to more opportunities to continue working with community partners in the future.”
“Not all of the officers are the ones that are the problem,” resident Debra O’Bannon said.
Harness and the residents are feeling encouraged by the first meeting as they look ahead to positive change.
“They stated that they were going to make suggestions to the department to implement different things to make it better so the community can see it," Tucker said.
Harness added, “Well it tells me there are still a lot of unanswered questions, but there is a willingness to listen and participate and that’s what we need.”
The OIG plans to have community policing meetings in all eight Metro Police divisions.
The next meeting takes place on June 22 at the Berrytown/ Adaptive and Inclusive Recreation Center on Heafer Road from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
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