Louisville Metro Police Department Chief Jaquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel has been put on administrative leave. The chief was suspended following an independent investigation into how she handled a sexual harassment claim involving other LMPD officers.
The investigation is ongoing, with Attorney David Beyer being retained to conduct the investigation into the chief’s handling of the situation.
Mayor Craig Greenberg announced the suspension during a press conference on Wednesday, June 12.
“I hold myself and all the leads of the agencies that report to me to the highest of standards, and that certainly includes LMPD,” Greenberg said at the press conference. “I take all sexual harassment allegations and the handling of the allegations very seriously, which is why I came to this decision.”
Though Chief Gwinn-Villaroel was not directly involved in the violation of LMPD’s sexual harassment policies, reports of her handling of the allegation of sexual harassment in the department lead Mayor Greenberg to open a independent investigation into her actions, according to a press release from the City of Louisville.
In a recording obtained by TV broadcast WAVE 3 News, Gwinn-Villaroel called on each of the majors within the city’s police department to ask if there were any officers ranked above them that they feel they cannot work with, and Major Shannon Lauder said in the recorded that she could not work with Brian Kuriger, another major, because he “sexually harassed” Lauder.
There is also another ongoing independent investigation into the situation itself involving the sexual harassment claim with those LMPD officers.
As of now, Deputy Chief Paul Humphrey will serve as the chief while Gwinn-Villaroel is on leave. According to the press release, he created LMPD’s accountability and improvement bureau which reports to him directly.
This article appears in Jun 5-18, 2024.
