Louisville Inspector General Demands Action Over Racial Search Disparities

The Louisville Metro Office of Inspector General is demanding immediate corrective action from the Louisville Metro Police Department after a data analytics report revealed stark racial disparities in police searches. A study by Sigma Squared found that in 2025, officers searched Black people 133% more often than white people. When controlling for age, location, and the reason for the stop, Black individuals were still searched 66% more frequently.

Despite the higher volume of searches, discretionary searches of Black subjects yielded contraband 11% less often than searches of white subjects. Sigma Squared characterized these results as evidence of inefficient and potentially biased discretionary search decisions.

Inspector General Ed Harness has called for the police department to release the full report, identify specific officers with the highest disparity rates, and implement measurable reforms. LMPD Chief Paul Humphrey stated that he accepts the findings as accurate and intends to use them as a baseline for future training, although the department has not yet reviewed the track records of individual officers.