LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – Republican state lawmakers introduced a bill Wednesday that would mandate a Kentucky State Police post in Louisville, a move meant to help curb violent crime.

“I deeply believe we need a stronger police presence in the city of Louisville,” said Rep. Jared Bauman, who filed House Bill 441 along with fellow GOP Rep. Kevin Bratcher. “We desperately need it. Anyone that lives in the city or works in law enforcement understands the need.”

The Louisville legislators' measure would fulfill a campaign pledge made by Republican Daniel Cameron during his unsuccessful bid for governor last year.

"Let's put a police post here in Jefferson County as a signal to the bad actors that live in these communities that we are taking crime seriously," Cameron told Scott Jennings, a Kentucky-based Republican political commentator, on his "Flyover Country" podcast last April.

Cameron, a former state attorney general, said he would work with local law enforcement on his plan to establish a KSP post in Louisville and make it "painstakingly clear that we want to do everything we can to address the violence epidemic that we have."

Bauman emphasized that KSP troopers would not be a replacement for patrolling the city streets, but help Louisville Metro Police with more specialty services, like SWAT teams and Ohio River patrols.

“The intent was never to have KSP on the streets of the city on patrol,” he said.

Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear pushed back on the idea last year, questioning where additional troopers would come from, given the need for troopers in rural areas.

"It seems to show a lack of confidence by the attorney general in (the Louisville Metro Police Department) to respond to crime in Louisville," Beshear said in April. "I want LMPD to know that I, at least, support them and don't think we should bring another law enforcement agency in suggesting that LMPD can't do their job. To those people in uniform in Louisville, I get that we need to do some things differently, but thank you."

The state police is part of the state Justice and Public Safety Cabinet under the control of Beshear's administration.

Bauman said the last few KSP recruiting classes have been strong and he would leave it up to the commissioner to determine how many troopers would be posted in Louisville.

And Bauman said he has spoken with both KSP and LMPD leaders and “they remain neutral on it.”

In October, LMPD Chief Jacquelyn-Gwinn-Villaroel said she would support any additional law enforcement presence, according to a story by Spectrum News.

Mayor Craig Greenberg questioned the idea last fall after it was included in the first draft of a sweeping Republican proposal known as the "Safer Kentucky Act." 

In remarks to reporters, Greenberg noted staffing shortages in the state police agency and at other police departments, including LMPD.

“I'm not sure they have the resources to be able to provide that here in Louisville without impacting other parts of the state,” he said. “So in the spirit of partnership, let's get both organizations fully recruited so that they have full teams and then let's talk about maybe expanding it from there.”

A LMPD department spokesman declined to comment on Thursday.

A request for comment from KSP was not immediately answered.

Cameron first pitched the idea last April after Connor Sturgeon, a 25-year-old Old National Bank employee, shot and killed five co-workers in downtown Louisville with an AR-15 that he purchased legally from a local gun dealer.

In addition, two men had just been killed and four other people injured after a shooting at Chickasaw Park in western Louisville.

Bauman noted Louisville has had a rough start to the year for violent crime, including one man killed and three others in critical condition after a shooting in the Russell neighborhood Wednesday afternoon.

In a previous interview, Jerry Wagner, a former Fleming County sheriff and current executive director of the Kentucky Sheriff's Association, said state police troopers are invaluable for rural counties who have less law enforcement presence than cities like Louisville and rely on KSP's specialized drug enforcement and police shooting units, among others.

"I always thought multiple agencies in serious situations gave you more views from different eyes on how to work that particular case," he said. "Yes, they assist us, but they also have specialized units that we just don't have the manpower for."

But Wagner said Louisville police have about 1,200 officers — more than KSP — and putting a post here could take away much-needed resources from smaller counties.

"They (LMPD) already have those resources," he said.

The closest KSP post to Louisville is in Elizabethtown, which currently includes Jefferson County in its coverage area.

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