The Atlanta Police Department is denying reports of a massive officer walkout following murder and aggravated assault charges being brought against the two officers involved in the shooting of Rayshard Brooks.
Social media chatter has been at a fever pitch all evening about walkouts in Zones 3 and 6. Police radio traffic in Zone 6 – which covers Inman Park, Old Fourth Ward, Virginia-Highland, and Reynoldstowns, among others – has gone quiet.
Sgt. John Chaffee with APD’s public affairs unit denied the walkouts in a statement, but said there had been a higher than usual number of call outs.
“Earlier suggestions that multiple officers from each zone had walked off the job were inaccurate. However, department is experiencing a higher than usual number of call outs with the incoming shift. We have enough resources to maintain operations and remain able to respond to incidents throughout the city,” Chaffee said.
A drive around Zone 6 indicated there was not the usual APD presence. A Georgia State Patrol unit was handling a two-car accident at Boulevard and Edgewood Avenue around 9 p.m. The APD’s precinct at Wellstar Atlanta Medical Center appeared empty. Down in Grant Park, the Zone 3 precinct was populated by Fulton County Sheriff units.
Vince Champion, southeast regional director of the International Brotherhood of Police officers, told Decaturish that police officers had stopped answering calls midshift, in response to charges against former Officer Garrett Rolfe, who is charged with the felony murder of Rayshard Brooks.
“The union, we would never advocate this. We wouldn’t advocate a blue flu,” Champion said. “We don’t know the numbers. Apparently we’re learning that command staff are asking outlying counties for support and aren’t getting it.”
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