1. The “Louisville Police Chief … has disciplined ‘many’ officers whose conduct was questioned in the U.S. Department of Justice’s investigation of the department.”
Louisville’s new Police Chief, Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel, took bold and decisive action in the wake of a “scathing [U.S. Department of Justice] report [that] found the Louisville Metro Police Department has a pattern of discriminatory policing and identified 60+ cases of police misconduct.” As Jason Riley and Marcus Green report for WDRB News in Louisville:
“The move comes after police took a closer look at 33 cases of possible officer misconduct flagged in the report released in March that either were not formally investigated or weren’t investigated at all …. Gwinn-Villaroel [said] that more than 30 officers were formally investigated and nearly 20 faced discipline, ranging from reprimands to firing…
In addition, Gwinn-Villaroel said that since she was named interim chief in January she has fired seven officers in 32 investigations not related to the cases included in the Justice Department probe and has disciplined others, including one demotion, one ‘involuntary transfer’ and termination hearings that could lead to firings or suspensions.”
“These decisions are not easy decisions that have to be made,” Chief Gwinn-Villaroel, said: “But, as chief, I know that these are necessary actions for the betterment of the department and for the community.”
Relatedly, as Darby Beane reports for WDRP, the chief has posted “hours of body camera videos from dozens of incidents to an LMPD website following the release of the findings of an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice earlier this year.”
2. The Portland Police Bureau’s Misinformation Problem.
For the Portland Mercury, William Steven Humphrey details two recent cases of the Portland Police Bureau spreading false information to the public:
“Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell … asked his officers to stop blaming prosecutors for the lack of ‘police action.’” Reporter Lucas Manfield obtained the chief’s memo which chastised his officers, calling the blame game “completely unacceptable”:
“Facing public outrage over slow response times and increased crime, [Portland] cops have publicly pointed fingers at the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office, saying conditions on the street are the result of prosecutors’ reluctance to press charges. That, Lovell said in the May 4 memo, ‘is completely unacceptable.’ …Lovell says he often receives complaints from the community about police passing the buck.”
Chief Lovell explained to officers that by (falsely) “telling complainants that there is absolutely nothing they can do for them, or that the problem is the result of someone else’s decisions,” the officer “undermines our relationship with criminal justice partners and sends the message to the community that the system is unresponsive to their needs.”
“Portland Police Bureau officer admits traffic enforcement messaging was politically motivated.” Chief Lovell might need to write another memo directed at Sergeant Ty Engstrom, the head of the police department’s traffic division. Here’s Portland reporter Jonathan Maus with the relevant background:
“On November 30th, 2021 a veteran member of the PPB’s Traffic Division, Sergeant Ty Engstrom, told the media that there was just one traffic enforcement officer to cover the entire city. The press conference organized by the PPB was ostensibly about a tragic rise in traffic deaths, but Sgt. Engstrom was also there to cement a narrative: He wanted Portlanders to link ‘defund police’ with ‘traffic deaths’ in order to receive more city funding.”
That might sound like a stretch. It did to us when we read it. After all, high ranking police officials shouldn’t be in the business of constructing false narratives.
And yet. Here is the Portland Mercury’s William Steven Humphrey:
“Police Sergeant Ty Engstrom admitted that the department's 2021 announcement [that the traffic enforcement division had been effectively dismantled] was a politically motivated lie to scare City Council into increasing police funding … Here's the direct quote [from] Engstrom: “We needed to create a stir to get some change, to get them [city council] to fund us back up. And I mean, that’s the honest truth. I know, that could make things more dangerous. I don’t know. But at the same time, we needed some change.”
3. Police Misconduct Undermining Community Trust:
“Chester Township Police Officer Arrested Sunday For Sexual Battery Involving A Teenager.” For WKYC, Ohio’s local NBC affiliate, Bri Buckley reports on a Chester Township police officer who faces “felony sexual battery charges involving a teenager” in an incident that “happened while he was on patrol.” The officer also served as a temporary school resource officer at West Geauga Local Schools. Police Chief Craig Young explained the impact this kind of incident has on the community: “It did happen on duty… and that's in of itself something that obviously is extremely concerning to me. We are and should be held to a higher standard. So when something like this happens, it jeopardizes that trust.”
“A Family Claims A FOP Official Tried To Scam A Police Officer’s Widow Out Of $20,000.” For The Philadelphia Inquirer, Taylor Allen reports on the family of a woman named Meagan Diaz who was struggling to pay her bills after her husband, a former Philadelphia police officer, died after “suffering career-ending injuries in an on-duty car crash.” Diaz received a $100,000 state death benefit after the death of her husband—and soon after, she said that an FOP leader began asking for “large sums of cash” that totaled to around $20,000. Diaz “repeatedly begged” the official to repay the loans, but he never did, the family says. Diaz then died from complications related to diabetes, so her daughter, Marissa, “filed a complaint with police Internal Affairs, accusing [the FOP official] of taking financial advantage of her mother, and then attempting to cover up the matter.” Marissa said she still has not received the money her mother loaned the FOP official:
“This whole situation has me very nervous, scared, and disappointed. It makes me feel like I can’t trust the police department. … I am still mourning the loss of my mother, and reliving this horror story all over again. It’s very overwhelming.”
Orange County Register Editorial Board: “Good Riddance To Santa Ana Police Union Boss.” That’s the headline from a scathing opinion piece penned by the conservative editorial board of the paper of record in California’s conservative Orange County, illustrating just how profoundly trust between the city and the police had been eroded by the city’s former police union head, Gerry Serrano, who once tried to “burn the place down” during a spat over his pension:
“It’s not often that one person casts such a pall over a city government… [Serrano] has bullied officials, run recall elections against non-compliant council members, filed legal claims, resisted police reforms and engaged in an ugly feud with the police chief. His efforts have at times been entirely personal… Serrano tried to ‘burn the place down’ in an unseemly effort to boost his pension… enlisted the help of state officials in that particular vendetta… His presence has largely been malevolent, so we were relieved to learn that Serrano is leaving his post with the city…Vincente Sarmiento, who was Santa Ana’s mayor before his election to the county Board of Supervisors, aptly summarized the cause for celebration. ‘The reign of intimidation, undue influence and abuse of power appear to finally be ending… My hope is that our community can begin to heal and restore the trust that was profoundly harmed between law enforcement and residents.”