Greenberg supports LMPD rejection of Inspector General report

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - Inflammatory accusations met a defiant public response when the Louisville Metro Office of Inspector General (OIG) questioned LMPD’s handling of an investigation.

”We need them to get it right, need that feedback and need that functional relationship to work,” LMPD Chief Paul Humphrey said during a press conference Tuesday. “I would say my hope going forward is we get exactly that.”

Public officials Wednesday moved to support LMPD after some of the OIG report findings were branded as wrong, inflammatory and potentially damaging to public trust the department is struggling to build.

”The inspector general plays an important role in that,” Mayor Craig Greenberg said. “But when accusations are made that are not accurate, I think it’s also important to correct the record so we can continue to build and strengthen that trust.”

Following a stinging rebuke of his report, which included accusations of officers making false statements during a 2022 investigation of a fatal police shooting, Inspector General Ed Harness complained of a lack of communication.

”My message to the community is that this is what oversight looks like and transparency looks like, where you’re actually getting a response from the Police Department,” Harness said.

After three years and 27 reports on police actions, Harness said Tuesday’s press conference by Chief Humphrey was the first time LMPD had responded.

”We’re not free to pick up the phone and say, ‘Hey sergeant, so-and-so, or investigator so-and-so, I’m looking into this, can you help me understand it?’” Harness said.

”That I don’t understand,” Dan Seum Jr. of Metro Council District 13 said. “We have to communicate with agencies all the time in our offices and I don’t understand why there’s no communication.”

Seum chairs the Metro Council Public Safety Committee and is preparing to ask questions about how police oversight endangered public trust.

”We’re just going to have to look into seeing how we’re going to go forward with this,” Seum said. “This is fresh from yesterday with the Chief. But I have concerns and several other people have concerns about how this comes out.”