30 Oct

LMPD To Emphasize Considering De-Escalation In Internal Investigations

Posted by in CLOUT

October 30, 2019. WFPL.ORG

For the first time, language in the operating manual for Louisville Metro Police Department’s professional standards unit will direct internal investigators to consider whether officers tried de-escalation as a way to avoid using force.

After months of discussion with city leadership, Citizens of Louisville Organized and United Together (CLOUT) is celebrating the proposed shift. Chief Steve Conrad announced the change Tuesday evening at a membership meeting hosted by the group.

Conrad said conversations with CLOUT “led to some changes that I think will not only improve our policies and our practices, but will hopefully also lead to a reduction in the number of injuries involving citizens and our officers.”

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07 Feb

Firm seeks community’s input for racial bias in Charleston Police Department

Posted by in CAJM, Criminal Justice Reform, Minority Rights

February 7, 2019. The Post and Courier.

Inside a meeting hall at Ebenezer AME Church on Charleston’s East Side Thursday night, Fouche Sheppard shared a story of how she was pulled over by a police officer she believed had profiled her.

The officer told her he thought she was an African American male before letting her go, she said.

Sheppard’s story was one of a handful shared during the first town hall meeting held as part of an eight-month, $158,556 racial bias audit of the Charleston Police Department by the Virginia-based firm CNA. Although small in attendance, a number of residents from the East Side neighborhood shared personal stories, suggestions on ways to increase community collaboration with police and asked questions about how a police department that seems to have drifted away from true, community-level policing can begin to right the course. 

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20 Sep

Three finalists to conduct racial bias audit of CPD will present to city on Monday

Posted by in CAJM, Criminal Justice Reform, Minority Rights

September 20, 2018. Charleston City Paper.

A 15-person committee will hear presentations from three firms interested in conducting a racial bias study of the Charleston Police Department Monday afternoon.

The firms were narrowed down from a list of seven that submitted application to the city’s Procurement Division for a chance at the controversial contract.

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14 Aug

Mayor, CLOUT in apparent deadlock over police de-escalation training

Posted by in CLOUT, Criminal Justice Reform

August 14, 2018. Insider Louisville.

Following a contentious meeting and an official rebuff from the mayor’s office, the leadership of Citizens of Louisville Organized and United Together said the group wants to meet with Mayor Greg Fischer again to hash out unfinished business over the way police handle use-of-force cases involving at-risk individuals.

At a June 22 meeting with the mayor, his staff and Louisville Metro Police Department Chief Steve Conrad, CLOUT called on the city to create an independent body to review 68 cases it said revealed a lack of consideration for de-escalation training for LMPD officers who have used force against mentally ill or drug-addicted individuals.

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