LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Louisville has reached a new agreement involving the Office of the Inspector General and the Louisville Metro Police Department. The agreement will give more access to the Inspector General to investigate LMPD.

Mayor Craig Greenberg announced a new agreement to improve police accountability on Tuesday.

“Since day one, our administration has been working to facilitate an agreement between LMPD and the Office of the Inspector General that’s in everyone’s interest,” Greenberg said.

He discussed a new memorandum of understanding between LMPD and the Office of Inspector General.

“One of the issues our administration has inherited is that this was not happening. Officers were not cooperating with interview requests and complete body camera footage was not being supplied,” Greenberg said.

With the new agreement, two policies go into effect. The first gives the authority to the LMPD police chief to require officers to attend witness interviews requested by the IG with due process in mind for officers. Second, the IG will now have direct access to body-worn cameras for complaints under investigation. 

“The Inspector General’s credibility is essential for the trust that we are building between LMPD and the public,” Greenberg said.

Ed Harness with the Office of Inspector General. He said he drafted the agreement in late October.

“When you look at statistics across the nation for oversight sustained rates, I think it’s about 6%. So that means 94% of the officers are doing the correct, so if we’re allowed to do that work, we can produce those results and we can share with the public whether did the officers did something correct or incorrect, and it will build a link of trust,” Harness said. “Because we are independent from LMPD and we should garner a greater level of trust with the public.”

LMPD Interim Police Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel said this is a sign of moving forward and of transparency.

“And to the community, what you’re seeing today is where LMPD is truly wanting to be open and be transparent and do what is right and what is best for the community but also to ensure that our officers understand their due process as we move along with working with the inspector generals office,” Gwinn-Villaroel said.

Louisville established the inspector general’s office in 2020, following the death of Breonna Taylor.

Harness said it will take a couple of weeks to go through a background check and licensing, but after that period, he and his investigators will have access to the body cam videos.