LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Thirty officers retired from the Louisville Metro Police Department Aug. 1, joining 15 others who had done so already in 2020.
The River City Fraternal Order of Police said this is happening for a variety of reasons.
"Officers, especially with the LMPD, don't feel supported by the administration, both elected and appointed," FOP President Ryan Nichols said. "So that drives people to make some different career decisions."
Nichols said many have just decided it's their time to retire, but others are fed up with the lack of leadership and accountability at the department and from metro government. He said when all of that is on top of an already underwhelming pay and benefits system, officers either retire or find somewhere else to work.
That has been magnified over the last few months during unrest in Louisville.
"We're one of the lowest paid departments in our area, and we want the highest-qualified, best-trained police officers to police our city -- officers who don't make mistakes and we can hold to a high level of accountability," Nichols said. "You want that, but your pay and benefit structure is here. They don't match up."
Andre Bottoms Sr., who retired from LMPD in 2014, ultimately rejoined the department until he resigned this summer. His resignation had much to do with his concern for those at the top, like the chief of police and mayor.
“I was having issues with leadership," Bottoms said. "I didn’t feel like the leadership we had in place at the time was doing right by the officers.”
Bottoms has had conversations with several of the 30 officers who decided to retire this month. He said their thoughts were the same.
"Some of them just feel like Metro Government and the police department don't have their back," he said. "If you're working in a job where you do the job we do, you've got to have that support."
Because of the way Kentucky's retirement system works, it is sometimes more beneficial to retire around a three paycheck month, which was July.
However, Nichols said there has to be change in leadership and fundamental decisions made before the trend reverses.
"If nothing changes, how can we expect anything to be different?" he said.
LMPD declined an interview for this story.
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