Louisville mayor wanted ex-council member on police oversight board. He wasn’t eligible

For a moment, everything was going according to plan.

Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg’s push to put James Peden, a former council member, on the city’s Civilian Review and Accountability Board was moving ahead.

The Metro Council clerk read Greenberg’s letter asking for Peden’s appointment at the legislative body’s regular Thursday meeting and the request was sent to a committee for review.

In an emailed statement that day, Greenberg touted Peden’s willingness to serve and said his past work as a firefighter and teacher “will bring important context to the discussions of the C.R.A.B.”

But then the plan fell apart.

Former elected officials must be at least three years removed from holding office in order to serve on the Civilian Review and Accountability Board, according to local law . But Peden left the Metro Council in early January 2023 — less than two years ago.

Peden said last week that Greenberg, a Democrat, called him more than six months ago to ask if he’d join the civilian review board. At first, Peden said he was hesitant. He’d been eyeing a spot on the Louisville Regional Airport Authority board, he said, or the Zoo Foundation board.

The civilian review board is a key element in the city’s promise to reform its troubled police department — an agency under intense scrutiny that could soon be bound to a consent decree after the U.S. Department of Justice found officers have a pattern of violating civil rights by using excessive force, discriminating against Black people and other issues.

Peden figured he had the necessary experience after spending 20 years on the Metro Council’s public safety committee — part of that time as chair.

So he agreed.

On Friday, though, Peden said Althea Jackson, the mayor’s director of boards and commissions, called to tell him he couldn’t actually be on the board.

“Seems like you should have known that from the get-go,” Peden said in a phone call with the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting Friday. “But nonetheless, here we are.”

He said that he didn’t know about the rule that former elected officials needed to wait three years before joining the civilian review board, despite voting to establish the board nearly four years ago.

The mayor’s staff is responsible for vetting nominees, according to local law.

Jackson declined to comment when reached by phone Friday afternoon and directed a reporter to contact the mayor’s spokesperson, Kevin Trager.

Trager said the mishap was an oversight and the mayor’s staff discovered the issue after media inquiries about Peden’s nomination last week.

On Tuesday, Greenberg said he will look for a replacement.

An oversight body

The Metro Council created the civilian review and oversight board in November 2020, in the wake of LMPD’s killing of Breonna Taylor and the ensuing protests that dominated the summer.

The board has four duties: review closed internal police investigations into police-related killings, determine when the city’s Inspector General should investigate a complaint against police, review final reports of those investigations, and advise the mayor, Metro Council and police chief on needed policy changes.

The local police union stymied the Inspector General’s early investigations after filing a complaint with the police chief alleging officers weren’t getting proper notice about potential misconduct inquiries.

Ed Harness, the inspector general, has completed 21 investigations to date, according to online records.

Harness on Tuesday told KyCIR his team has also reviewed police policies that guide officer use of force and the use of spit shields and submitted recommendations to LMPD’s chief. Now, Harness is leading a review of LMPD’s firearms training and the department’s detective bureau.

He said he’s not involved in selecting members of the civilian review and oversight board.

Peden represented District 23, which includes Fern Creek, on the Metro Council and voted in favor of creating the city’s civilian review and accountability board in November 2020, despite sparring with council Democrats over the board’s makeup . Peden and other Republicans wanted to reserve three seats on the 11-member review board for law enforcement organizations. Democrats wouldn’t allow it.

The law requires board members to participate in at least 16 hours of training on a range of police policies and legal issues and they must accompany LMPD officers on patrol for at least 24 hours.

LMPD employees or other law enforcement employees are barred from being members of the board. Family members of police are also excluded. Former law enforcement employees can serve if at least three years have passed since they left the agency.

Current city employees are not allowed to serve, as well as current elected officials.

Retired city employees can be on the board immediately after they leave their job. But elected officials must wait three years.

Peden applied to be considered for a post on a city board or commission in November 2023, according to city records.

As a Metro Council member, Peden chaired the public safety committee and called himself “pro-law enforcement,” though he sometimes offered sharp criticism of LMPD.

In 2019, during a tense Metro Council meeting with then-Chief Steve Conrad that focused on the department’s deescalation policies, council members reviewed two police body camera videos that showed the fatal police shooting of Russell T. Bowman and the traffic stop of 18-year-old Tae-Ahn Lea — both incidents from 2018. Peden said both videos “make me nauseous.”

“We have to fix that,” he said.

Today, Peden is the executive director of the Jefferson County Fire Chiefs Association and is a registered lobbyist for the Jefferson County Teachers Association. He ran unsuccessfully for the Kentucky Senate in 2022, losing to Democrat Karen Berg. His wife also lost a primary election race for Kentucky state Representative this year.

Peden said he was “a little bummed out” by not being able to serve on the civilian review board.

He said he misses the inside information, the behind-the-scenes view of how the city works, that he got when he was on the Metro Council. He said there’s a dearth of people willing to get civically involved — just like there aren’t enough police and not enough teachers. But he is, and he’s confident city officials will get him a spot on another local board.

“They’ll find something,” he said.

Details about the Civilian Review and Accountability Board, including meetings schedules and notes, are available here .

Amina Elahi and Roberto Roldan contributed reporting.