Louisville, Kentucky– A federal judge in Kentucky rejected Louisville’s proposed settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice over police reforms after the department withdrew its support for the plan earlier this year.
Ministry of Justice Announced in May It was canceling proposed consent decrees with Louisville and Minneapolis that sought to reduce racial bias and racial abuse by police after the killing George Floyd and Breonna Taylor That sparked nationwide protests in the summer of 2020.
U.S. District Judge Benjamin Peyton wrote in a December 31 ruling that “responsibility for leadership of the Louisville Metro Police Department in accordance with federal law must remain with the city’s elected representatives and the people they serve.”
A judge in May rejected Minneapolis’ proposed consent decree, which would appoint a federal employee responsible for tracking progress on reforms laid out in the agreement.
Justice Department officials under President Joe Biden’s administration have conducted a years-long investigation into Louisville over the fatal shooting of Taylor and police responses to public protests in 2020. A draft of the investigation was released in early 2023, alleging that the Louisville Police Department “discriminates against Black people in its enforcement activities,” uses excessive force and conducts searches based on invalid warrants.
The Justice Department’s new leadership has accused the Biden-era Justice Department of using flawed legal theories to govern police departments and pursuing costly and burdensome consent decrees.
Consent decrees with Louisville and Minneapolis were approved by the Justice Department in the final weeks of the Biden administration, but the settlements had to be approved by a judge.
His ruling “does not prevent parties from doing the hard work of reform themselves,” Beaton wrote.
The city has initiated some reforms since Taylor’s death in March 2020, including a city ordinance prohibiting the use of “no-knock” warrants. Arrest warrants were commonly used in surprise drug raids. The city also started a pilot program that sends behavioral health professionals to some 911 calls.
The city also paid a $12 million wrongful death settlement to Taylor’s family.
Earlier this year, former Louisville Police Detective Brett Hankison became the first officer involved in the Taylor raid to go to prison. A The judge sentenced Hankison to nearly three years in prison for his conviction for using excessive force despite the Justice Department’s efforts to reduce the sentence to one day served.
Hankison fired 10 shots after Taylor’s boyfriend opened fire on police from inside her apartment. Hankison fired blindly into Taylor’s windows but did not hit anyone inside or at a nearby apartment.