LMPD Chief Erika Shields: Officers are afraid to be proactive for fear of backlash. Courier-Journal: Louisville's spike in gun violence is partly due to police officers being afraid to engage actively in the community, according to Louisville Metro Police Chief Erika Shields. "We have a real backlash against policing, which in turn has prompted what you're seeing ... is a reluctance by the officers to self-initiate activity, and to be proactive," Shields said in an interview Wednesday with The Washington