Downard would rearrange police
New division and units promised
By Joseph Gerth and Jessie Halladay
The Courier-Journal
Republican mayoral candidate Kelly Downard outlined a plan yesterday for public safety that includes establishing a new police division in southern Jefferson County.
Downard, who has the endorsement of the Fraternal Order of Police, has made crime-fighting a focus of his campaign and has pledged that, if elected, he will replace Police Chief Robert White.
Chad Carlton, a spokesman for Mayor Jerry Abramson, said Downard's proposals would "turn back the clock" on crime-fighting in Louisville and move the city away from policies that he said have made Louisville "one of the safest big cities in America."
In addition to creating the division, Downard said he would create a narcotics squad with increased manpower, build a full-time street crimes unit and reduce the number of vacancies on the Louisville Metro Police Department.
Carlton pointed to a study last November that named Louisville the seventh-safest big city in the United States.
But Downard cited recent crime statistics in calling for changes to the department. Preliminary FBI statistics released last week that compared crime in 2004 to 2005 show an increase in both violent and property crimes.
"It has become painfully apparent that the mayor and his administration do not know how to address this growing crime problem," Downard said yesterday, reading from prepared remarks.
"I promise to you today, that the first 100 days of my administration will be devoted to tackling the rising rates of violent and property crime," he said.
Downard's plan doesn't call for increasing the number of officers beyond existing approved staffing levels.
The new division would be created from parts of three divisions west of Interstate 65 that have high numbers of police runs. While Downard said he would let his new chief decide exactly where the district would be, he said he expects it would be based in the Fairdale area.
White said adding a division alone wouldn't solve the crime problem and, in fact, would require more resources because it would take more command staff to operate an additional division.
Instead, White said, he has focused on assigning more officers to areas that have the most calls.
Downard argued that a year-round street crime unit could better fight crime than an annual task force that focuses on gangs and other street-level crime activities.
White said more officers are addressing those street crimes through units, called flex platoons, formed in each of the eight police divisions.
Those platoons develop specific knowledge of smaller areas and can be flexible in addressing whatever crime needs a community has.
"We have street crime units in every division," White said. "If we're going to fight crime and prevent crime, then we've got to do it where crime is occurring."
Downard also proposes bringing the narcotics unit up to pre-merger staffing, though he did not give a specific number of officers needed to run the unit. He argued that a larger narcotics unit could focus more on drugs, which he said are responsible for the "recent waves of crime."
White said he maintains a central vice and narcotics unit, which is supplemented by the division-based flex platoons.
Downard also said he would improve department morale, which he charged is responsible for the high turnover that has left the department understaffed.
"Multiple police officers have said, 'If you win, I'm sticking. If you lose, I'm out,' " Downard said, refusing to name the officers.
White said there are fewer than 35 vacancies, which equals a 3 percent vacancy rate. It is not uncommon to have vacancy rates on average of 5 percent in departments across the nation, White said.
Downard, however, contends there will be closer to 118 actual vacancies at the end of the month because there will be 37 unfilled positions and 81 additional people in recruit classes "who aren't running the streets, protecting us from crime."