History

On January 6, 2003, the Jefferson County Police Department and the Louisville Division of Police merged to become the Louisville Metro Police Department. This began a long journey to combine the two departments into one. A strategic plan was developed to determine what needed to be combined, how it needed to be combined and where everyone would fit into the big picture. Many long days were ahead for the men and women working to pull this all together.

Merging Departments

Upon merging these two departments, some existing units were decentralized and more new units were created. The whole purpose of this reorganization was to focus resources in the police districts or in support of district operations. The Major Case Squad, Stolen Property Arrest and Recover Squad (SPARS) and the Street Crimes Unit were decentralized, with these functions going back to the districts. The goal was to make each district self-sufficient in terms of having the resources needed to prevent, respond to and investigate criminal activity.

Direct Reports

Each district was headed by a major and three lieutenants. One lieutenant had administrative responsibilities for the district and the other two had 24/7 operational responsibilities for half of each district.

Six (6) positions reported directly to the Chief of Police. These positions were:

• Chief of Staff
  The Chief of Staff was responsible for the Community Relations Unit and the Public Information Office.
• Special Investigations Commander
  The Commander of the Special Investigations Division was responsible for the Office of Public Integrity, the Office of Professional Standards, Inspections and Intelligence.
• Police Attorney
• Operations Bureau Commanders (2)
  The Commander of the Operations Bureau 1 was responsible for the Second District, the Third District, the Fourth District, the Sixth District, the Charlie District and the David District. The Commander of the Operations Bureau 2 was responsible for the First District, the Fifth District, the Adam District and the Baker District. This commander would also oversee the Support Operations Division which included the Crimes Against Children Unit, the Narcotics/Vice Unit, the Special Operations Unit (included Special Events and all specialized auxiliary units) and the Criminal Investigations Division (Crimes Against Persons and Crimes Against Property).
• Administrative Bureau Commander
  The Commander of the Administrative Bureau was responsible for the Administrative Services Division, the Technical Services Division and the Training Division.

Redesigned Badges & Cars

Along with the new department came a new look, the badge and car were redesigned. City and county police officers chose from several proposed designs for their cars and uniform patches. The new patch contained a fleur-de-lis, the city's symbol, along with the words "Louisville Metro Police," "Service" and "Integrity." The patrol cars were stripped of their current city or county logo, to be replaced with the new Metro police decal. The vehicle also displayed the new police logo.