District 16 eNewsletter - Friday, October 15, 2021

Councilman Scott Reed
601 West Jefferson Street

Louisville, KY 40202

scott.reed@louisvilleky.gov
502.574.1116

Debbie Carroll
Legislative Assistant
debbie.carroll@louisvilleky.gov

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PUBLIC SAFETY TOWN HALL SUMMARY

On Tuesday evening, I along with members of the Minority Caucus held our first meeting on public safety in our community.  The meeting, which was held at the University of Louisville Shelby Campus was attended by approximately 65 persons and every media entity in town. During the event, attendees were able to hear updates from Louisville Metro Police Chief Erika Shields, Louisville Chief of Community Building Keith Talley, Pegasus Institute Executive Director Josh Crawford and Game Changers’ Executive Director Christopher 2X. Following the comments of our panelists, we were able to work our way through nearly every question submitted by persons attending the meeting.

Topics covered as part of our town hall were:

• The infiltration of gangs within our community particularly among younger persons
• The need to secure our property - particularly guns that are unsecured and are being stolen from unlocked cars
• How increases in the use of drugs as well as mental health issues are tied to the recent escalation of crime
• The current state of negotiations between Metro and the Fraternal Order of Police
• The understaffing of LMPD and the lack of interest among potential recruits in joining the force
• The connection between the reduction of proactive/self-initiated policing and the increase in the murder rate in Louisville
• The fact that while the murder rate is increasing in many larger cities, Louisville is outpacing many cities such as Atlanta, Chicago and Philadelphia
• The usefulness and reasons for bringing officers (via SRO – Student Resource Officers) back into our schools
• The efforts underway to prevent the victims on violent crime from being adversely affected in school and more importantly preventing retaliation and/or increased likelihood of victims to turn to violence themselves as a result of such events

Our next Public Safety Town Hall will be held on Tuesday, October 26, 2021 in southeastern Jefferson County. This event will be held at the Fern Creek Chamber of Commerce (6104 Bardstown Road) and will start at 5:30 p.m. The forum will be hosted by the Minority Caucus and led by Councilman Robin Engel (District 22), Councilman Stuart Benson (District 20) and Minority Caucus Chairman Anthony Piagentini (District 19). The forum will feature LMPD Chief Erika Shields as well as those persons who participated in our first town hall.

While these forums will not solve all our crime issues, they do serve the purpose of raising awareness, focusing efforts and finding solutions. I would like to thank each panelist as well as every citizen who attended our first forum and hope that you will continue to stay connected as we work together towards a better city.

Sincerely,

Scott