LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Metro Council is considering spending tens of millions of dollars to make Louisville a safer city.
Most of the Public Safety Money included in the second round of the American Rescue will likely go to the Louisville Metro Police Department.
At a Council Budget Committee meeting on Thursday, some council members questioned whether or not it's necessary for $35 million to go toward an Accountability and Improvement Bureau at the department.
The bureau would drive change in performance standards, training, audits and accountability. The issue is not with the goals of the bureau, but the timing.
Some council members wonder if spending all of this money now, before the Department of Justice concludes its investigation into LMPD's practices, is worth it.
Chief Erika Shields said it's a gamble, but necessary no matter what.
"These investments are needed regardless of what the DOJ comes up with," she said. "The wrongdoing and the missteps and the damage to the community is very real, and there's no denying that, and I'm not sure we're done pulling back some of the layers either."
Some of the money, $6 million, could also be used for more cloud storage and cameras for LMPD. Shields said a lot of digital space is needed as detectives extract phone data from their investigations. The cameras would help as LMPD struggles with an officer shortage.
"Because the cameras, you can be in a division at HQ and ideally build out so you can see all the cameras in the division as opposed to having to have officers all over and you can be monitoring real time," she said.
In total, more than $78 million would be going to public safety, with $41 million going to LMPD. The rest of the money would be split up between other agencies like EMS and the Office for Safe and Healthy Neighborhoods.
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