Cobb County Violent Crime Bureau tracks down most dangerous criminals, weapons

COBB COUNTY, Ga. - A special unit of the Cobb County Police Department focuses on tracking down some of the most dangerous criminals.

In just over a week, the Violent Crime Bureau captured three men wanted for murder in other jurisdictions.

It is made up of the VIPER and Tactical Units, plus members of the Gang unit, Homeland Security, and Crimes Against Persons detectives.

"Our main purpose and function is removal of crime guns Not just any gun, crime guns.  Secondary mission is to help track down wanted fugitives," said Lt. Stephen Nolen, VIPER commander.

The special crime suppression team was formed in 2021. Since then, they've taken hundreds of guns off the streets and arrested dozens of people wanted for murder.

In late March, over a span of just eight days, they helped arrest three men wanted for murder in other jurisdictions who were hanging around Cobb County.

The first man was captured during a traffic stop.

"Discovered he had a murder warrant out of Douglas County for a double homicide for two victims that were juveniles," said Lt. Nolen.

Working on info from the gang unit, the Violent Crime Bureau found another man wanted on a murder warrant in Clayton County.

A few days later, the Violent Crime Bureau found a man at a local restaurant who was wanted for murder charges in Philadelphia.

While Lt. Nolen admitted it was impressive to track down all three in just eight days, he credited the tenacity of the officers on his team, saying they worked on and off the clock gathering intelligence to track down the most dangerous criminals, make those arrests, and keep crime from growing.

"They want to help remove this violent element that comes into Cobb or occurs and want to keep it off the street. Many of my officers live, work and play in Cobb, and they all have families, and they want to make sure their families are safe as well as everybody else's families," said Lt. Nolen.