美国国家公共电台 NPR--The DOJ found a pattern of misconduct in the Louisville police department. Now what?

The DOJ found a pattern of misconduct in the Louisville police department. Now what?

Transcript¹

The Louisville Metro² Police Department has a pattern of violating civil rights, conducting unlawful searches and discriminating³ against Black people and people with disabilities, according to federal authorities.

The U.S. Justice Department came to that conclusion after a two-year investigation⁴ into the department, which began a year after the police killing⁵ of Breonna Taylor and determined⁶ it was far from the only example of officers' unlawful conduct between 2016 and 2021.

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The DOJ says the Louisville police routinely violated civil rights

Officials detailed⁷ their findings in a 90-page report released Wednesday, which asserts that LMPD has long "practiced an aggressive style of policing that it deploys⁸ selectively, especially against Black people, but also against vulnerable people throughout the city."

Examples include using excessive force (including "unjustified neck restraints"), conducting searches based on invalid⁹ warrants, executing search warrants without knocking or announcing themselves, unlawfully searching and arresting people during traffic stops and violating the rights of people "engaged in protected speech critical of policing."

It also accused the department of discriminating against Black people in its enforcement activities and against people with behavioral health disabilities while responding to them in crisis.

The report "paints a very painful picture of our past," says Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg, who took office in January.

He tells Morning Edition that he ran for office knowing he would inherit the report, unaware¹⁰ of what its findings would be but resolved to act on them "so that everyone has a police department that they trust and that they are proud of."

"Many of the incidents that the Justice Department has in its report are infuriating to read, and really infuriating examples of abuse that no one is proud of to happen in their city or any city," he says. "It's unacceptable, inexcusable, and we are focused on where we go from here."

The report recommends 36 improvements the department can make in areas from training (especially around the use of force and search warrants) and documentation to internal affairs and civilian¹¹ oversight¹².

Justice Department and Louisville officials have also said they will work together towards a legally enforceable list of reforms known as a consent decree.

Greenberg believes Louisville is "moving in the right direction," noting that the city made some policy changes even before he was elected in November and a new interim¹³ police chief took over at the start of the year.

And he echoes the Justice Department's assessment¹⁴ that the majority of Louisville officers are committed to public service for the right reason, though he said that doesn't excuse any of the incidents that took place.

"It doesn't excuse it in the past, it wouldn't excuse it if it takes place right now, and so we are going to focus on that reform, improvement on training, on improving supervision¹⁵ on changing the culture and moving forward from here," Greenberg says.

Greenberg spoke¹⁶ to Morning Edition's Steve Inskeep about what those next steps might look like.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Historically, maybe even still today, yes, which is unfortunate. And that's what we need to work on, one of the many things that we need to work on. We need to ensure that regardless of what race you are, what your gender¹⁷ is, whether you're a child or an adult, that you see police as someone who is here to help you, there to keep you safe, and that there are incidents when they use the appropriate level of force, they do not use excessive force. So we are going to have a lot of continued conversation and collaboration¹⁸ not just with the Department of Justice but also with the community to ensure that our entire community can trust the police department.

On what he thinks needs to be in the consent decree

Just from our conversations with the Department of Justice over the past few days and yesterday, they are very focused on our training, ensuring that we have the right leaders in place at LMPD and that they have the right training for all of our officers. And then there's supervision of the training, that there's reports of the trainings that we can see very early if there are any patterns that emerge where things aren't going right, and ensure that our officers have the training they need to do constitutional and effective policing. And so I think our LMPD is ready to embrace this — it was definitely a difficult day for them as well yesterday — but we need to deal with the hard truths of the past so we can move forward together as a community.

I think everyone in the community wants a good police department; nearly everyone that I've ever interacted with supports having a great police department. In fact, in Louisville right now we actually need more officers — we are nearly 300 officers short, which means we have fewer officers working in the neighborhoods, with community leaders, with members of the clergy¹⁹, with small business owners that are working to prevent crime. And so I am strongly supportive of having more police officers, we are just going to make sure they have the right training and resources and leadership they need so that they can work collaboratively with the community, in a way that we're proud of, to prevent crime.

On whether it's possible to increase police funding while reforming the police

That is our goal, yes.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 metro   

n.地铁；adj.大都市的；(METRO)麦德隆(财富500强公司之一总部所在地德国，主要经营零售)

参考例句：

• Can you reach the park by metro?你可以乘地铁到达那个公园吗？
• The metro flood gate system is a disaster prevention equipment.地铁防淹门系统是一种防灾设备。

3 discriminating   

a.有辨别能力的

参考例句：

• Due caution should be exercised in discriminating between the two. 在区别这两者时应该相当谨慎。
• Many businesses are accused of discriminating against women. 许多企业被控有歧视妇女的做法。

4 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

5 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

6 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

7 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

8 deploys   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的第三人称单数 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• It then deploys "decoy" programs designed to attract the virus. 然后，它释放“诱饵”去吸引病毒。
• But when that doesn't work, he deploys his secret defense mechanism. 但没有效果，它要施展绝密自卫武器了。

9 invalid   

n.病人，伤残人；adj.有病的，伤残的；无效的

参考例句：

• He will visit an invalid.他将要去看望一个病人。
• A passport that is out of date is invalid.护照过期是无效的。

10 unaware   

a.不知道的，未意识到的

参考例句：

• They were unaware that war was near. 他们不知道战争即将爆发。
• I was unaware of the man's presence. 我没有察觉到那人在场。

11 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

12 oversight   

n.勘漏，失察，疏忽

参考例句：

• I consider this a gross oversight on your part.我把这件事看作是你的一大疏忽。
• Your essay was not marked through an oversight on my part.由于我的疏忽你的文章没有打分。

13 interim   

adj.暂时的，临时的；n.间歇，过渡期间

参考例句：

• The government is taking interim measures to help those in immediate need.政府正在采取临时措施帮助那些有立即需要的人。
• It may turn out to be an interim technology.这可能只是个过渡技术。

14 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

15 supervision   

n.监督，管理

参考例句：

• The work was done under my supervision.这项工作是在我的监督之下完成的。
• The old man's will was executed under the personal supervision of the lawyer.老人的遗嘱是在律师的亲自监督下执行的。

16 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

17 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

18 collaboration   

n.合作，协作；勾结

参考例句：

• The two companies are working in close collaboration each other.这两家公司密切合作。
• He was shot for collaboration with the enemy.他因通敌而被枪毙了。

19 clergy   

n.[总称]牧师，神职人员

参考例句：

• I could heartily wish that more of our country clergy would follow this example.我衷心希望，我国有更多的牧师效法这个榜样。
• All the local clergy attended the ceremony.当地所有的牧师出席了仪式。