2020

Police Must Detail Seizures Or Lose Training Money Under Proposed Bill

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A bill filed this week in the General Assembly would require law enforcement agencies to disclose more details about cash and property seized through asset forfeiture or be subjected to financial penalties. Rep. Reginald Meeks, a Louisville Democrat, is sponsoring the measure, which would beef up existing reporting requirements. Agencies that don’t comply would lose $4,000 reimbursements from a state fund for individual officers who complete continued training. Law enforcement agencies are already required to file annual reports detailing how much cash and property they seize, but not all do. State data analyzed by the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting found just 11 percent of law enforcement agencies submitted required reports each year between fiscal years 2013-2017.

Politics

Beshear’s Transition Team Has Familiar Names, Longtime Donors To Family

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Kentucky Gov.-elect Andy Beshear’s transition team will help craft his administration, and he’s stacked it with well-connected bureaucrats, legislators and longtime supporters of the Beshear family’s political campaigns.  

Transition team members donated at least $358,000 to Beshear since his run for attorney general in 2015, according to state campaign finance records. About 80 percent of the 163 team members have donated to Beshear, either in this race against incumbent Gov. Matt Bevin or his 2015 campaign. At least 16 currently work for Andy Beshear as employees of the Office of the Attorney General. At least 70 members of the transition team have also been supporters of former governor Steve Beshear, Andy Beshear’s father.

Man Convicted Of Murder After Police Chase Left Two Kentucky Teens Dead

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A jury in Hardin County this week convicted a man of two counts of murder and recommended he serve life in prison for his role in a crash last year that killed two teenagers. Shawn Welsh was being chased by three police agencies in October 2018 when he sped a stolen Chevrolet pick-up truck through a red light and collided with a Honda Accord being driven by Jacob Barber. Barber, 18, and Katarina Peeters, 17, were killed in the crash. Two other teenage passengers in the car were seriously injured, but survived. “We got justice for our kids,” said Barber’s mother, Sharon Combs, after the verdict.

Louisville Police Close More Than Half Of Rape Cases Without Arresting Anyone

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The Louisville Metro Police Department closed hundreds of rape investigations in three years. Officers identified the suspects, knew where to find them and had probable cause to arrest them. But in a majority of these closed cases, LMPD officers made no arrests. The officers determined that arrests were just not possible in 51 percent of all 2014-16 rape cases. The agency marked the cases “cleared by exception,” a status intended for exceptional situations, and closed the case.