Josh WoodLouisville Courier Journal
Louisville Metro Police’s top officers, including its former chief, used an encrypted messaging application configured to automatically delete messages, effectively shielding their communications from public inspection and potentially committing a criminal offense in the process, The Courier Journal has found.
The use of the messaging app Signal to automatically delete messages sent by LMPD brass is a violation of Kentucky’s open records law and, if intentional, would “probably” be a criminal offense as well, said Michael Abate, a First Amendment attorney who has represented The Courier Journal in open records cases.
“It’s pretty blatant and flagrant abuse of the open records process, right? What point would there be in using something like that except to hide it from the public?” he asked.
Under Kentucky law, public agency officials who willfully conceal or destroy records to bypass the open records law are guilty of a Class A misdemeanor for each violation, which is punishable by up to 12 months imprisonment.
A separate law makes tampering with public records, which occurs when a person knowingly destroys a public record or otherwise impairs its availability, a Class D felony punishable by between one and five years in prison.
In response to written questions sent by The Courier Journal, LMPD spokesperson Angela Ingram said a Signal group chat comprised of the department’s command staff was “created during a previous administration,” and after becoming acting chief, now-permanent Chief Paul Humphrey “recognized the need for change and directed the app’s use to be restructured.”
Now, Ingram added, a Signal group chat used by LMPD command staff retains messages instead of deleting them.
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In a statement, mayor's office spokesperson Kevin Trager said: "We appreciate Chief Humphrey’s swift action and his commitment to trust and transparency by ensuring LMPD’s compliance with the Kentucky Open Records Act and Louisville Metro Government’s policies."
Elsewhere in Metro Government, he added, "a small number" of Metro Corrections employees use Signal on their city devices, as well as one Public Health employee. The messages sent on those devices are retained, he said.
Humphrey became LMPD’s acting chief in June after former LMPD Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel was suspended over her handling of sexual misconduct allegations raised in a May 22 command staff meeting. Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg later asked for her resignation.
The Courier Journal learned that top officers were using Signal when audio of that May 22 LMPD command staff meeting was leaked to members of the press.
While reprimanding top officers over a number of issues in that meeting, Gwinn-Villaroel said: “Our Signal app has been less — lackluster.”
On June 13, the day after The Courier Journal obtained the recording, the newspaper filed an open records request for all messages sent in an LMPD “command staff group chat” mentioned in the meeting since May 17.
The messages would have spanned a critical time for LMPD, as the department navigated its controversial, image-damaging arrest of the world’s No. 1 golfer, Scottie Scheffler, as well as a sexual misconduct scandal that ultimately unseated its chief.
On Aug. 23, more than two months after The Courier Journal’s request was filed, Louisville Metro Government told the newspaper there were no such records.
On Sept. 20, Metro Government released the findings of an independent investigation it ordered into Gwinn-Villaroel’s handling of allegations brought up in the May 22 meeting. In that report, seven high-ranking LMPD officers mentioned the Signal group chat being used on May 22.
After a subsequent inquiry from The Courier Journal about why the messages had not been provided to the newspaper, LMPD said Signal “was not structured to retain messages indefinitely” during the time period the newspaper had specified.
While the Signal app allows messages to be automatically deleted, the feature is not a default setting and must be activated.
In Signal group chats, administrators and their designees have the ability to determine who can enable the feature.
Ingram said the department did not know who activated the feature.
According to Louisville Metro Government’s records retention schedule, “routine correspondence” is meant to be retained for two years before being destroyed.
Responding to The Courier Journal, Ingram said the command staff group chat on Signal “is used to communicate consistent and simultaneous information to a large group of people on incidents such as shootings, homicides, critical incidents, or other law enforcement activity.”
LMPD’s use of the app is troubling to open records advocates.
“Public agencies do not have the right to randomly delete their records. And they certainly don’t have the right to install an app that deletes the records on its schedule, not theirs,” said Amye Bensenhaver, a former assistant attorney general and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition.
Use of Signal has stirred controversy elsewhere, as well.
In 2021, Michigan banned state employees from using messaging apps like Signal that could be used to bypass open records requests. The law came after reporting by the Detroit Free Press that top Michigan State Police officials used the app.
Earlier this week, a former aide to embattled New York City Mayor Eric Adams was arrested on federal charges of witness tampering and destroying evidence, with prosecutors saying the man deleted Signal, which he used to communicate with Adams, from his phone as FBI agents arrived at his home this summer.
Reach reporter Josh Wood at jwood@courier-journal.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @JWoodJourno.
