Last month, city and federal officials signed off on a consent decree to improve policing in Louisville.

But the local police union says it wasn't at the table.

The union is now urging a federal judge to deny the long awaited deal.

Our June Lefler has more in this report.

After police officers shot and killed Breonna Taylor in 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice criminally charged officers and investigated the Louisville Metro Police Department as a whole.

The DOJ found a pattern of unconstitutional policing.

Including the use of excessive force, unlawful discrimination against black people, searches based on invalid warrants and violation of the rights of those engaged in protected speech critical of policing.

In 2023, the city and feds began negotiating a plan to do better.

It took months and activists worried that a deal wouldn't come soon enough, fearing it would fall through when a new president took office.

But Louisville's mayor says he was determined to do right by the community.

Your willingness to demand meaningful and lasting change helped bring us to this moment.

The consent decree announced last month is a nearly 250 page plan to reform lmpd over the course of five years.

A third party monitor will track the department's compliance.

That didn't sit well with the local police union.

That represents more than a thousand sworn officers.

The union filed a motion last week to intervene in the case.

The motion states large 614 was not permitted to participate in the negotiations of the proposed consent decree and that it represents a violation of the largest collective bargaining rights under state law.

The union also disputes the DOJ's allegations of misconduct and activists and councilwoman says this is an expected bump in the road.

It is not easy trying to hold the police accountable in any place, especially not here, because they're so connected.

And it's hard.

You know, people think you can't hold two truths.

I want them well paid.

I want them to have all the things that they need.

But I also want to make sure that people survive police interactions and they don't die needlessly and their rights aren't ignored.

We can have the best consent decree this nation has ever seen if they allow the process to happen, if they allow community voices at the table.

And I'm here to fight for those voices.

Mayor Greenberg's office says it is filing a response to the court by Monday.

For Kentucky Edition, I'm June Leffler.

Thank you, June.

The DOJ says Louisville has been proactive, already making changes that could make Lmpd a, quote, model police department.

The Metro Council banned no knock warrants in 2020.

Breonna Taylor's family demanded more oversight and community policing as part of their settlement with the city.