It appears last night that quite a few police officers either didn’t show up for work in Atlanta or were just refusing to go on calls because of the bogus murder charge against former officer Garrett Rolfe:
NY POST – The Atlanta Police Department said it saw an uptick in the number of officers calling out of work on Wednesday night — hours after local prosecutors announced charges against the ex-cop who shot and killed Rayshard Brooks.
“The department is experiencing a higher than usual number of call-outs with the incoming shift,” Atlanta PD tweeted. “We have enough resources to maintain operations and remain able to respond to incidents.”
Following the [murder charge] announcement, some outlets, citing sources, reported that officers were walking off the job en masse, affecting several of the six zones that APD cops patrol.
APD tweeted in response that “earlier suggestions that multiple officers from each zone had walked off the job were inaccurate” — while noting that the number of call-outs was “higher than usual.”
A union rep told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that “There are officers walking off… Some are walking off and sitting in their personal vehicles.”
“There are officers saying they are not going to leave the precinct unless to help another officer,” said Vince Champion, the Southeast regional director for the International Brotherhood of Police Officers.
This would explain why there was a lot of silence last night in response to dispatchers trying to get any officer to answer a call:
I've been listening to Zone 6 Atlanta Police radio traffic for the last hour. There are 15 – 20 minute periods of absolute silence amid reports of officer walkouts. This clip was shared with @CherylPreheim by a police source. It's from Zone 3. The code 69 is Person With a Gun. pic.twitter.com/hkmbC5VF0Q
— Brendan Keefe (@BrendanKeefe) June 18, 2020
Todd Starnes tweeted that there were over 500 calls pending and none of the surrounding counties would send any help:
UPDATE: A source in the Atlanta PD just told me there are more than 500 calls holding and all of the surrounding counties are refusing to send any help. #BLUELIVESMATTER
— toddstarnes (@toddstarnes) June 18, 2020
A wife of an Atlanta police officer suggested the same thing, that other police departments were refusing to help and that dispatchers were walking out:
Do not believe the ATL mayor or CNN …. they asked for help from other jurisdictions and they all said no. The dispatchers just all walked out.
— OnyxU (@Onyxcatredpill) June 18, 2020
How ever many didn’t show up last night or respond to calls, it’s clear that the ridiculous murder charge by the corrupt Fulton County DA had an effect on morale. In fact Vince Champion, who’s mentioned above as the Southeast regional director for the International Brotherhood of Police Officers, told Fox 5 Atlanta that “morale is terrible” and “it’s the worse day in law enforcement in the City of Atlanta that’s ever been.”