Murder rate spiking in Metro Louisville

VIPER IS working. You tell me how to prevent a murder inside a house on a set-up robbery and YOU will be a very rich man!!!! Quit spewing your hatred and using them as a fall guy...Why don't you prevent violent crime? If there weren't any violence or crime, you would have to go back to being a LP at some low rent department store

It seems that most people forget that by nature, police work is mainly a reactive endeavor.

Sure, there are some proactive things that can be done (intelligence gathering, community oriented policing, simple old-fashioned riding of the beat, etc...) that can very well stymie the flow of would-be criminals.

But, by and large, the nature of the beast is for us to react to the crimes (specific offenses or crime-trends) either by actually responding to the runs (which I'll take the time out here to thank the beat guys/girls who actually answer the radio runs), or by targeting specific problems and/or problem areas with directed resources.

I believe this is where the VIPER unit comes into play (and no, I'm not on the unit, as I've been retired a little over a year). VIPER is (as I understand it) supposed to be a spear-head of directed police response to a specific problem set.

Even as such, there's simply no way that unit, or any other unit, or even the "I'm the best thing since sliced bread" officer is going to be able to proactively prevent 100%, or even a majority of the criminal activity.

There's an old saying that goes something like "a locked door only keeps the honest people honest". Much the same way here...if the criminal element is determined to (at least attempt) their criminal activity...no one will be able to stop them. This doesn't even take into account those crimes that are simply crimes of opportunity, or "heat of the moment" types of offenses.

Maybe if those of you who apparently harbor sour grapes would quit trying to place blame, and actually try to work together, there would be some tangible results, or at the very least you'd have something to be proud of, instead of putting everyone else down in an attempt to deflect your own shortcomings.

Not trying to target anyone in particular here...so no offense intended. But seriously, is there absolutely no camaraderie anymore? It's been years and years since I rode the beat (did the last half of my career in CIS...and no, I wasn't a "house cat" as some of you like to say...I worked my a** off, and was damn proud of it), but it just seems like I recall a time where there was so much more cohesiveness amongst ALL officers.

Instead of trying to stab each other in the back all the time, try watching each others' backs...because nobody else is watching it for you!

Just my $.02

You are so right! Viper is a joke.

When the commander of viper chews the supervisor if the fugitive squad over numbers, it is proof the system is broken. Or at least that the unit has an incompetent commander.