NACOLE or the National Association of Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement took place in Louisville, KY this year. In 2025 the conference took place in Minneapolis, MN at the Minneapolis Marriott City Center but this year took it took place at the Louisville Downtown Marriott at 280 W Jefferson St.
What started on Sunday November 8th, the conference gathered individuals from all over the country. Some panels consisted of discussions including Restorative Justice (Executive Leadership Forum), Racial Categorization in Law Enforcement Data, Leadership, Trust, and the Future of Civilian Oversight and more. Louisville’s own Inspector General, Ed Harness held a panel discussion titled Civilian Oversight in Louisville, KY. Within it Inspector General Harness discusses slushie gate, Lt. Jeffrey Lauder's 'adult pool party' misconduct, the Community Commitment and more. Inspector General Harness goes on to say that Metro Council public safety committee has yet to read any of his reports. He also goes onto state that 74% of his recommendations for LMPD have yet to be responded to.
Ed Harness’s panel consisted of Kungu Njuguna with the ACLU of KY and he also sits on the Community Safety Commission. Sheree Briscoe Stewart, the lead director of ELEFA, the Indepedent Monitoring team over the community commitment in Louisville. Metro Councilwoman Paula McCraney was also selected as a panelist although she was not present during the panel. We had a chance to speak with her and ask what perspective she was invited to speak about to which the councilwoman replied, “I guess I would have been invited because I am the architect of the civilian review and accountability board that is an ordinance for the Louisville Metro government and I would've talked about why I chose to create a more comprehensive Review board than the one that was already established on the books. I would have talked more about the need for LMPD to be more cooperative with the inspector General and the need for subpoena power, which we have to get at the state level and they have not granted that at this time.”
"At the end of the day, there's no one to step in and say, ELEFA is right or LMPD is right."
Questions on police reform and accountability in Louisville have been consistent for the past 6 years. Mayor Greenberg has stated that LMPD has been working on reforms before ELEFA began their work in 2025 and has made progress. During the panel discussion Monday, Ed Harness asked everyone, “does ‘the ville’ have the will to change? Are we going to put in place, the necessary actions so that its citizens can have a different police experience”. To which he responded, “I think that it’s fair to say right now, the system is not adequate enough.”
The NACOLE Conference has one final day Thursday November 12th consisting of two discussions. Collaborative Case Discussions: Strengthening Oversight Through Peer Review from 8:30am - 10:00am and From Pain to Process: How Baltimore Reimagined Police Accountability Since Freddie Gray from 10:15am - 11:45am.
What started on Sunday November 8th, the conference gathered individuals from all over the country. Some panels consisted of discussions including Restorative Justice (Executive Leadership Forum), Racial Categorization in Law Enforcement Data, Leadership, Trust, and the Future of Civilian Oversight and more. Louisville’s own Inspector General, Ed Harness held a panel discussion titled Civilian Oversight in Louisville, KY. Within it Inspector General Harness discusses slushie gate, Lt. Jeffrey Lauder's 'adult pool party' misconduct, the Community Commitment and more. Inspector General Harness goes on to say that Metro Council public safety committee has yet to read any of his reports. He also goes onto state that 74% of his recommendations for LMPD have yet to be responded to.
Ed Harness’s panel consisted of Kungu Njuguna with the ACLU of KY and he also sits on the Community Safety Commission. Sheree Briscoe Stewart, the lead director of ELEFA, the Indepedent Monitoring team over the community commitment in Louisville. Metro Councilwoman Paula McCraney was also selected as a panelist although she was not present during the panel. We had a chance to speak with her and ask what perspective she was invited to speak about to which the councilwoman replied, “I guess I would have been invited because I am the architect of the civilian review and accountability board that is an ordinance for the Louisville Metro government and I would've talked about why I chose to create a more comprehensive Review board than the one that was already established on the books. I would have talked more about the need for LMPD to be more cooperative with the inspector General and the need for subpoena power, which we have to get at the state level and they have not granted that at this time.”
"At the end of the day, there's no one to step in and say, ELEFA is right or LMPD is right."
Questions on police reform and accountability in Louisville have been consistent for the past 6 years. Mayor Greenberg has stated that LMPD has been working on reforms before ELEFA began their work in 2025 and has made progress. During the panel discussion Monday, Ed Harness asked everyone, “does ‘the ville’ have the will to change? Are we going to put in place, the necessary actions so that its citizens can have a different police experience”. To which he responded, “I think that it’s fair to say right now, the system is not adequate enough.”
The NACOLE Conference has one final day Thursday November 12th consisting of two discussions. Collaborative Case Discussions: Strengthening Oversight Through Peer Review from 8:30am - 10:00am and From Pain to Process: How Baltimore Reimagined Police Accountability Since Freddie Gray from 10:15am - 11:45am.
