Lt. Kenneth Montgomery, a Detroit Police Department spokesman, responding to questions about discipline for officers who don't show up to testify or fulfill other courtroom duties, said information on pending disciplinary actions against officers is never released outside the police force. The police department keeps no overall statistics on police no-shows, but Napolean suggested the increase in such dismissals is probably due to an overall increase in drug and weapons cases during the past 15 years. So I'm sure there are going to be more officers who can't, for some reason or another, make it to court. But the statistics don't back up Napolean. In 1996, for example, there were 200 fewer felony drug and weapons cases than in 1992, but dismissals due to absent cops jumped from 223 to 338 over the four years.
Precinct officers have a different theory.
The bottom line is, you can't put your thumb on one thing and say that's how we fix it, because the problem is everywhere. After waiting for two or three hours, many have to leave for other commitments, Malhalab said. Court times do vary, The Detroit News found. Many officers don't appear in court because their superiors fail to notify them they've been subpoenaed. The suspect was later convicted of armed robbery and carjacking.