Reducing violent crime will help people feel safe in Louisville Metro

My No. 1 priority as Louisville Metro Mayor will be public safety. We must reduce violent crime. My goal is to ensure that all residents feel safe at home and wherever they go in Louisville Metro. To prosper, everyone – resident or visitor – must feel safe here.

When talking with families in the West End, I’ve learned that some parents have their children sleep in their bathtubs to protect them from stray bullets that enter homes in their area. That is not acceptable —children should not have to live in fear.

I will be Ready Day One as Louisville Metro Mayor as my team and I launch effective public safety strategies and programs that we know work and have experience implementing. I will surround myself with knowledgeable and experienced team members, including Jeffersontown Police Chief Rick Sanders. 

I will bring Chief Sanders with me in a yet-to-be-determined capacity. He is an accomplished law enforcement executive whose experience includes serving as third in command of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) in Washington, D.C., Commissioner of the Kentucky State Police, and more than a decade as Jeffersontown Police Chief. Together, we will get our hometown back on track as a safe community.

Public safety is undoubtedly the most critical challenge facing Louisville Metro and thus is the major focal point for the Louisville Metro Mayor race this year. Other mayoral candidates will have public safety plans. They probably will mention some of the same objectives we will put in place. 

But having a plan does not come close to having the know-how, connections and successful experience Chief Sanders and I have to address the public safety challenges facing Louisville Metro. We will be Ready to Lead Day One to implement effective strategies and programs that we’re already doing every day. We’ve got to get law and order restored in Louisville Metro.

 

Below are some of my public safety priorities:

• Law enforcement experience means we’re Ready Day One

• Building up the ranks of LMPD is necessary

• Violent crime must be stopped

• Community Oriented Policing works

• Intelligence-led Policing takes down criminals

• Group Violence Intervention can be effective – when done right

• Youth detention center must reopen

• Corrections debacle requires major changes

Law enforcement experience means we’re Ready Day One

When I am elected Louisville Metro Mayor, Jeffersontown Police Chief Rick Sanders, an experienced law enforcement executive at the federal, state and local levels, will come with me in a yet to be determined capacity.

Chief Sanders, a graduate of Pleasure Ridge Park High School with bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Louisville, started his career with the former Jefferson County Police Department. He spent 24 years working for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) where he was assigned to Chicago, Indianapolis, Miami, Dallas and, ultimately, Washington, D.C., where he served as third in command for the DEA.

While serving as the Special Agent in Charge of the DEA in Chicago for five years in the early 2000s, Chief Sanders was leader of a law enforcement task force that targeted the top 20 drug and gang leaders. The Chicago leaders of the DEA, FBI, ATF and local law enforcement agencies met weekly to stay on top of the gang and drug violence problem. By the time he left for his next assignment, the task force had taken down a majority those 20 criminals, and they served time in federal prison. 

Chief Sanders became Jeffersontown Police Chief upon his retirement from the DEA. We worked together for nine years before he answered the call to serve as Commissioner of the Kentucky State Police. After four years in Frankfort, Chief Sanders chose to return as Chief of the Jeffersontown Police Department in late 2019. 

Chief Sanders’ unique background and connections -- knowing the law enforcement landscape in Louisville Metro, the Commonwealth of Kentucky and federal agencies – is extensive, authoritative experience no other mayoral candidate will be able to bring to the table. He knows how to do what Louisville Metro needs. Chief Sanders and I have worked together as a successful leadership team and will be Ready Day One to take on this challenge.

Building up the ranks of LMPD

Building trust among the Louisville Metro Police Department, city leadership and residents is crucial. We must grow LMPD’s ranks and build officers’ trust in city leadership in order to achieve our public safety goals. Officers should be trained in proper intervention procedures to ensure appropriate response when engaging citizens.

As Mayor of Jeffersontown for 11-plus years, I have overseen one of the top-rated police departments in Kentucky along with Chief Rick Sanders, an experienced law enforcement executive. 

Chief Sanders and I will grow LMPD’s ranks immediately. Many former LMPD officers have told us they will return to the force when I am Mayor. When the Jeffersontown Police Department had two openings, more than 100 LMPD officers inquired about the positions . At the same time, LMPD had 300 openings and 14 candidates applied. 

There is a great need for experienced officers at LMPD now. We will bring them back. The confidence in leadership Chief Sanders and I have among police officers will benefit Louisville, its residents and LMPD.

 

Community Oriented Policing works

Chief Rick Sanders and I are experienced in Community Oriented Policing where police and residents work together to create a safer community. We have seen it work.

Jeffersontown police officers are required to get out of their cruisers every day to interact with residents and visit businesses to build positive relationships. And their efforts pay off.

When two people were shot and killed at the Jeffersontown Kroger store in 2018, it was citizens who took videos of the perpetrator and showed the footage to our police officers, enabling the suspect to be apprehended minutes after the shootings occurred.

During the 2021 Gaslight Festival, a carjacking occurred, and a citizen following at a safe distance, tracking the car until Jeffersontown police officers arrived to apprehend the thieves.

The kind of relationship building required for Community Oriented Policing is not possible right now in Louisville. LMPD is so shorthanded there is not enough time for officers to invest in relationship building.

When we get LMPD’s staffing level raised, we will immediately start implementing Community Oriented Policing. Establishing rapport between residents and officers is a crucial step to improving public safety in Louisville.

 

Intelligence-led Policing takes down criminals

Intelligence-led Policing is a proven way to catch and incarcerate the most dangerous criminals. We use that approach in Jeffersontown with Chief Rick Sanders and his experienced team of investigators.

Chief Sanders used intelligence-led policing during decades with the DEA where he was stationed in Chicago, Miami and Washington, D.C. He knows how to lead an investigative process that requires a strategic, multi-agency approach to incarcerate the worst offenders, including leaders of gangs and drug cartels. 

That’s what Chief Sanders did during his five years with the DEA in Chicago. The DEA, FBI, ATF and local law enforcement agencies bring a different level of experience and abilities ranging from boots on the ground insider knowledge to wiretapping authority that makes the collaborative effort  effective.

To illustrate how Intelligence-led Policing has worked here, in November Jeffersontown Police arrested six people involved in a major catalytic converter theft ring following a year-long investigation. Hundreds of catalytic converters valued at more than $100,000 were recovered upon the arrest of the suspects, who were stealing catalytic converters throughout the Louisville Metro area.

Effective intelligence-led policing goes way beyond stopping a person with a broken tail light to get a look inside the car. It’s important to find the leaders of criminal operations and incarcerate them to make a serious impact on Louisville’s violent crime problem.

We have to remove the people who are leading astray our young people so we can direct youths to safer, healthier, more productive ways to live in this world.

 

Group Violence Intervention can be effective – when done right

Group Violence Intervention (GVI) is a collaborative effort of law enforcement officials, members of the community and social workers who take a direct approach at communicating with people active in committing violent street crimes, offering a clear path out of that way of life. Part of the message against violence in these face-to-face meetings is to explain the consequences of further violence. 

Originally known as Boston’s “Operation Ceasefire” program, GVI was responsible for a 63 percent reduction in youth homicides in Boston and has evolved into Group Violence Intervention. LMPD has made attempts at employing the GVI strategy with limited success to date. 

I am knowledgeable about GVI as Jeffersontown Police Chief Rick Sanders is experienced in GVI. He knows well law enforcement leaders in other communities where GVI has been used successfully. Those connections will be helpful in establishing effective GVI efforts in 

LMPD has attempted use of GVI without needed results. GVI needs to be implemented more effectively in Louisville Metro, which Chief Sanders and I will do.

 

Youth detention center must reopen

Way too much violent crime occurring in Louisville is at the hands of youths today. And we have no place to incarcerate them. A budget battle between state officials and Louisville Metro left the Louisville Metro Youth Detention Services without funding. So it closed. 

There are 16 beds at a youth center on Lagrange Road in Louisville’s East End, but it is far from enough capacity to incarcerate the number of youths who are committing crimes in Louisville Metro. The nearest youth detention center to Louisville is hours away. So there is not adequate capacity for the large number of youths committing serious crimes. This cannot continue.

In early 2022, Jeffersontown Police officers arrested four youths in a stolen car. All were carrying stolen weapons. The officers called Louisville Metro officials to find out where to take these young offenders. They were told to release them to their parents. So youths in dire need of counseling and encouragement for a more positive path in life were turned back to the streets where they could be committing crimes again the next day.

People wonder why we have a such problem with violent crime. It’s because we’re not incarcerating a many of the people who are committing them – even when we catch them. 

Sadly, many homicides occurring in Louisville are young people killing young people. Years ago, entrance to a gang was earned by stealing a special pair of sneakers. Today, a body must be produced. We must use intelligence-led policing methods to apprehend the leaders of these gangs in order to save youths from lives of crime. 

And homicides are not the only crimes being committed by youths. Carjackings by armed thieves are on the rise in Louisville. Many of them are carried out by teens. Here’s is what is happening in many carjacking incidents. Cars packed with young thieves drive around our community, looking for their next target. With a target sighted, one youth hops out of the vehicle, pulls out a weapon, carjacks the targeted car then drives off in it. The first care with the rest of the carload initially follows the stolen car, then breaks off to find the next target. These offenders are mainly youths.

The gang problem that Louisville has will not decline until we address the fact that so many youths are going astray. We have to have ways to counsel and dissuade youths from making bad choices and committing serious crimes, but when they do, we have to incarcerate them.

 

Corrections debacle requires major changes

By late March, eight people died in a five-month period in Louisville Metro Corrections. This sad turn of events is an indication of the need for change in how the downtown jail is run. I am optimistic that the spring 2022 leadership change will result in improved operations there.

Increased drug detection efforts likely will stem the tide of inmates dying as most have been caused by overdoses. But there is much more work to be done so that Louisville Metro Corrections does its job to safely house offenders and keep our community safe.

First, there needs to be adequate staffing at the jail — and confidence in leadership. Corrections officers and other jail staff have tough jobs, and they need to be supported and paid a fair wage for the work they do. It is essential to have adequate staffing so that the facility is well monitored and safe for offenders who are incarcerated.

On another front, it is crucial to address jail overcrowding. That starts with the fact that we’ve got to stop incarcerating people we’re mad at and start incarcerating people who are committing serious crimes. 

Rather than have people sit in jail who have committed minor offenses, it would be better to have them do community service. We also should not be using the jail as a treatment center for people who have mental health issues and addiction problems. Those people should be connected with the help they need. 

When I am Louisville Mayor, I will bring successful programs we’ve used in Jeffersontown to help people who are troubled but not a harm to the community. Eight years ago, we started the Angel Program that assists people addicted to drugs. They can come into the Jeffersontown Police Department and turn in their drugs and paraphernalia and ask for help with no repercussions.

We have connections with more than 300 treatment centers that are here and across the country where substance abusers can get the help they need. We assess their situation and learn what type of treatment best suits their circumstances such as whether they need inpatient or outpatient services and whether they need to remain in town or would be better served to go to a facility out of state. We also determine if they have health insurance that can be used or whether they need financial assistance to obtain treatment.

Because addicts often relapse, we stay with our Angel Program participants and provide wrapround support services to guide them back to healthier lives. There are Angel Programs now established across Kentucky based on what we implemented in Jeffersontown.

The Angel Program can help reduce recidivism of people who have been in jail. Meanwhile, we must ensure there are enough corrections officers to implement security measures that keep inmates safe. Adequate staffing is necessary for jail operations to be proactive and not just reactive.