Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting (https://kycir.org/tag/lmpd/)
Money seized through asset forfeiture provides leverage in resolving drug trafficking cases and has become an ingrained aspect of the justice system in Louisville, our investigation found.
Officers said thermal images showed a heat signature “indicative of cultivating marijuana” at Tyrone Evans’s house. When they returned a few days later, they did not find any physical evidence of a grow operation.
Officers conduct required surveys on fewer than two out of every 10 ShotSpotter calls. The calls rarely lead to an arrest. The officers typically clear ShotSpotter scenes within minutes, and they seldom find evidence of a shooting.
Kentucky law says seized money must be used for direct law enforcement purposes. A KyCIR review of $3.7 million in spending records shows agencies take varied interpretations of that law.
Archdiocese of Louisville and parish school officials denied to KyCIR that they had any knowledge of the accusations against Drew Conliffe. They even denied knowing whether he coached at any parish school.
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.
A case file released by LMPD last week shows that, even after the case was reopened, detectives did little investigating until the day before KyCIR published a sweeping investigation of Dan Johnson.
Jefferson County Attorney Mike O’Connell noted that segments of Louisville’s ordinance quoted by the U.S. Department of Justice were selective and lacked context.
The U.S. Department of Justice is pushing back on cities it views as soft on immigration enforcement, challenging Louisville this week to prove its new local law doesn’t amount to “sanctuary” policies.
People in Louisville will no longer be questioned about their immigration status by city employees, including police. And police will only assist federal agencies in enforcing immigration laws with a warrant signed by a judge or when there is a risk for danger or violence, according to an ordinance approved Thursday by the Louisville Metro Council.