Atlanta homicide detectives say they’ve gone months without a day off due to the city’s spiraling murder rate.
Channel 2’s Lori Wilson spoke to exhausted homicide detectives who say they are overworked and need a break.
“So it’s been about since September since I’ve had a full day off,” Atlanta Police Lieutenant Ralph Woolfolk said.
“When they catch a case, it’s full on. It’s non-stop to make sure that we are driving those cases forward in the right direction,” the former child star told Wilson.
The department is struggling to keep up with the soaring homicide rate after veteran detectives quit or retired from the force.
Woolfolk arrested a suspect in the murder of the mother of one of rapper Young Thug’s sons recently.
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But the brutal stabbing of Katherine Janness and her dog Bowie in Piedmont Park in 2021 is still an open case.
Woolfolk said the APD uses seasoned case coaches to help new hires learn the ropes quickly.
“2019 was my first full year here. I had 99 [homicide] cases,” Detective Savannah Berry said.
Det. Jarion Shephard said a lot of the newer detectives don’t have experience to work homicide cases.
“It helps when you have more experience to come in and start kind of to guide them in the right direction.”
