LOUISVILLE, Ky. (July 25, 2025) – Attorney General Russell Coleman recently joined Spectrum News’ Mario Anderson on the weekly public affairs program, “In Focus.” General Coleman, now in his second year in office, discussed everything from ending the drug crisis in Kentucky to a statewide initiative to protect Kentucky law enforcement.
Kentucky’s body armor grant program, click here to watch.
"When I took office a little over a year ago one in five police officers, 20%, did not have body armor or the body armor that they wore was expired. Many years ago, when I was an FBI agent, I didn’t know that the body armor we wear expires after five years, it just becomes ineffective.
"We have a lot of agencies out there that couldn't afford new body armor. That was unacceptable to me. It was surprising because we as a Commonwealth, we're not protecting those that protect us. It's as simple as that.
"It was surprising to the members of the General Assembly. It was surprising to Senator McDaniel [R-Ryland Heights] on the Senate side to Jason Petrie [R-Elkton], chairman of Appropriations on the House side. It was both surprising, and it was unacceptable. So, they, the legislature, gave me, gave our team, $15 million to close that gap.
"I was pleased to announce that we have closed that gap to close to 1% we have measured and are about to issue or have issued close to 2,000 vests."
Working with President Trump to close a fentanyl shipping loophole in the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” click here to watch.
"We had a tremendous amount of goods coming into the United States from China with no inspection whatsoever. We were seeing large amounts of fentanyl, large amounts of synthetic opioids, that are killing our kids, coming in through this mechanism.
"So, we along with a number of attorneys general, wrote the Biden Administration asking for this loophole to be closed. And unfortunately, we did not receive a response.
"We wrote again several months ago to the Trump Administration asking them to address it. To their credit, within 72 hours the Trump Administration temporarily closed this loophole. What the Big Beautiful Bill did was take what the Trump Administration did temporarily and closed that loophole permanently."
Combating the drug crisis in Kentucky, click here to watch.
"We have brought in over $1 billion dollars to help fight the drug crisis. This money doesn’t just go to the General Fund. Fifty percent of it goes to cities and counties via a formula. Your viewers, our counties, are directly benefitting from these opioid settlement dollars, and half of it goes to the Kentucky Opioid Abatement and Advisory Commission. I’d argue that is the most important agency in state government for mitigating the drug crisis other than law enforcement itself.
"They are doing creative things with that money; we announced a grant program and funded several dozen programs across the state to the tune of about $20 million, just a few months ago. There were about 70 to 75 agencies that benefited from these grants, that are doing things to prevent, doing things to treat, doing things to save lives, were using this money now to save lives."