Following Federal Charges Against Officers Involved in the Fatal Raid on Breonna Taylor’s Home, Kentucky Lawmakers Must Do More to Reduce Police Gun Violence by Promoting Police Transparency and Accountability

On Thursday, August 4, 2022, federal officials charged four Kentucky police officers with crimes related to the nighttime police raid in March of 2020 that resulted in police shooting and killing Breonna Taylor inside her Louisville home.

Following Breonna Taylor’s death, the Kentucky State Legislature passed Senate Bill 4, a bill to significantly limit the use of no-knock warrants and require safeguards to prevent their misuse, which was signed into law by Governor Andy Beshear. Even with this important reform, there is still more work to be done to hold police accountable and prevent police violence before it happens.

To make the necessary, fundamental changes to policing and help save lives — particularly Black lives — in Kentucky, state lawmakers must take immediate action to end police misconduct and build community trust among law enforcement by passing a range of accountability and transparency measures, including but not limited to:

• Creating a strong legal standard barring unnecessary police use of force and requiring officers to intervene and stop abuse;
• Ending qualified immunity in Kentucky; and,
• Repealing the state’s Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights (LEOBOR).

Black people in Kentucky are killed at over two times the rate of white people. At least 171 people in Kentucky have been killed by police, including 35 people in Louisville, since 2013. More information on police violence is available here.