LOUISVILLE, Ky., (WDRB) -- Republican gubernatorial candidate and current state Attorney General Daniel Cameron said in a podcast posted Wednesday that he would place a Kentucky State Police post in Louisville to help curtail violence if elected governor.

"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.

Cameron's remarks came in response to a question about how he would respond to high-profile violence, such as two shootings in Louisville last week.

Connor Sturgeon, a 25-year-old Old National Bank employee, shot and killed five co-workers in downtown Louisville last Monday with an AR-15 that he purchased legally from a local gun dealer on April 4, according to police.

On Saturday evening, two men were killed and four other people injured after a shooting at Chickasaw Park in western Louisville.

Cameron 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."

The state police is part of the state Justice and Public Safety Cabinet under the control of Gov. Andy Beshear's administration. Beshear, a Democrat, is running for reelection this year.

At a press conference on Thursday, Beshear said he hopes Cameron has reached out to state police about the plan and wants to know where more 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 LMPD to respond to crime in Louisville," Beshear said, noting that two of their officers responded within 3 minutes responded to a mass shooting last Monday.

"Unlike the attorney general, I have confidence that LMPD will do their very best in situations like that," he said. 

"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."

Last year, Beshear signed legislation into law giving KSP troopers a historic pay raise of $15,000 from $40,000 to $55,000.

Beshear has championed salary raises for KSP to prevent troopers leaving for higher pay at other law enforcement agencies and to help fight against a trooper shortage.

"I want to make sure they don't ever have to choose between their dedication for public safety and providing for their own families," he said in April 2022.

Kevin Trager, a spokesman for Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg, said in a statement that, "We appreciate the ongoing support and the relationship we have built with KSP and our federal law enforcement partners."

A Louisville police spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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.

Headquartered in Frankfort, KSP currently employs about 900 troopers at 16 posts across state. That is about 100 troopers below sworn strength in 2006. The closest post to Louisville is in Elizabethtown, which currently includes Jefferson County in its coverage area.

Jeffersontown Police Chief Rick Sanders, who was KSP commissioner from 2016-19, said even if the state funded more troopers, creating a post in Louisville still poses a staffing problem.

"It's not just funding," he said in an interview. "You have to be able to hire troopers. And it's getting harder and harder to recruit and retain police officers."

Still, Sanders said the overall idea is a good one, as more police presence — such as patrolling highways — could lead to less crime.

"If KSP had the staffing and plenty of troopers, I'm all for it," he said.

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