Mayor names interim LMPD police chief

LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) - Ishmon Burks was named interim chief of the Louisville Metro Police Department Monday.

He begins work Tuesday and will serve until April when Mayor Greg Fischer plans to name a permanent replacement for outgoing Police Chief Robert White. Burks will earn the equivalent of $120,000 a year.

Burks is former Secretary of the Kentucky Justice Cabinet and a former commissioner of the Kentucky State Police. He currently serves as an assistant professor and academic coordinator of criminal justice at Jefferson Community and Technical College. He is a former vice president at Spalding University.

"Ish is widely respected in the criminal justice field and he will be an excellent interim chief," Fischer said. "I thought it was important to name an interim from outside the department and to name someone who has no interest in the permanent chief's position."

Burks is a retired Army Colonel, has a master of arts in criminology from City University of New York. He is an active member of the Metro Louisville community, having served as a board director for Louisville Ballet and the African American Heritage Foundation. He was also a member of the Merger 2.0 Task Force which examined the first decade of the city-county consolidation.

District 5 Metro Councilwoman Cheri Bryant Hamilton is a longtime family friend.  She told WAVE 3 News she wishes Burks would put his name in for the Chief's job.

When asked what he may bring to the department in such a short time on the job Hamilton replied, " He's a professional through and through and LMPD is a professional rank so I think as long as they trust him and respect him the city is in good hands."

Burks' wife, Terri Metzger, is a retired school teacher, and they have two grown daughters, Angela and Wallis.

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