Metro Council president accused of colluding in lawsuit against the city

As T. Clay's expert witness explained..

The switch to Majors was all about being able to fire command at will. It began before merger and was the successor step to firing the Chief at will. Used to be the LPD Chief was protected from the Mayor, until Jerry Abramson got the Aldermen to turn it into a 100% at-will political position. The reason these protections existed in the 1st place was because LPD had long suffered from a corrupted political patronage system. We now see the effects of making LMPD as political as LPD was in the distant past. Incompetent unqualified political hacks make poor and sometimes illegal decisions that get the department sued and drive crime up.

Solution:

1. restore merit protection for all LMPD sworn personnel

2. give the chief and head of SID a 5-year appointed term they can't be fired from except for cause confirmed by either the merit board or metro council. The Major over SID shouldn't answer to anyone but the commonwealth attorney for case decisions. Definitely not the chief.

3. require a merit board process for selection of the top 3 candidates for Chief who the Mayor can pick from

4. convert Majors to merit rank