Behind the badge: Officers under attack

LPD had a better set of ideas when murders surged in the 1990s, including a gang unit. What we've heard from this administration is relatively tepid and isn't going to fix very much. The officers are also distracted by the constant stream of security guard details that take them away from deterring and arresting criminals.

http://www.nytimes.com/1998/01/15/us/missing-trend-some-cities-see-murders-rise.html

Sustaining much of the drug activity, as well as the increase in violence, Chief Hamilton says, is that residents are afraid to provide information to the authorities. In addition to Federal assistance, Louisville officials have implemented measures to fight drug activity and other crimes. Last February, Mayor Jerry E. Abramson announced 27 initiatives to make the city safer, many of them ideas borrowed from other cities. Parole officers are riding along with police on patrol, as they do in Boston, to spot parole violators. Community courts have been set up as they have been in New York to speed the justice system. Money was raised for neighborhood groups to develop their own anti-crime programs, as they do in Houston.

To combat neighborhood drug dealing, Louisville officials authorized more money for a crackdown on drugs that included more arrests of dealers on the street, faster responses to complaints and roadblocks to identify dealers. Among other efforts, the police created a squad of six officers to combat teen-age gangs and a squad of five others to transport fugitives back to Louisville from other cities and states. The city also invested $671,000 for computers in police cars and the Department of Public Works is removing graffiti with greater frequency.

A 42% homicide clearance rate like is pretty low. The national average is 65%. That low of a clearance rate suggests there's a lot of gang activity because that stops witnesses from talking.