DOJ to investigate Louisville Police Department

The Department of Justice will investigate the practices of the Louisville Police Department, announced Kentucky’s Attorney General Merrick Garland.

The probe comes a little over a year after officers with the department shot and killed 26-year-old Breonna Taylor, in her own home during a no knock botched raid.

Louisville police department investigation

The Louisville police department came under intense scrutiny following the incident and Taylor’s killing, along with that of several other Black Americans, led to widespread protests in the US over policing and racial injustice.

Garland, speaking at the Justice Department‘s headquarters, referred to Taylor during his announcement of the investigation, which he said “will assess whether (Louisville Metro Police Department) engages in a pattern or practice of using unreasonable force, including with respect to people involved in peaceful expressive activities.”

In a statement civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, who represents Breonna Taylor’s family, says this is a step towards justice.

“Today, with Attorney General Garland’s announcement of a Justice Department civil investigation into the Louisville Metro Police Department, our legal team and the family of Breonna Taylor send our support to the DOJ for taking this step towards justice for Breonna and better policing in Louisville” said Crump.

“We are hopeful that this investigation will bring the ugly patterns and practices of Louisville law enforcement into the light. While it remains a disgusting miscarriage of justice that the state and Kentucky AG Daniel Cameron did not have this same dedication to accountability and transparency, it is gratifying to see it at the federal level. We hope that the DOJ looks beyond Kentucky and also launches investigations into the countless other departments across the U.S. that demonstrate similar patterns of racism and corrupt policing.”

The attorney general said that “if there’s reasonable cause to believe there is a pattern or practice of constitutional or statutory violations,” the department “will issue a public report of our conclusions”.