But unless that happens, there's not much we can do. The department didn't respond to further requests for information. Slayings take place with such great frequency in Detroit that the few dozen homicide detectives on duty have little time to pursue leads, question suspects or examine evidence from recent cases before they're deluged by new ones. The city, perhaps thinking about public relations, reports fewer homicides than are logged by the morgue. Detroit needs help Wayne County Prosecutor John O'Hair has been forthright in saying the department needs more investigators and forensic support, such as ballistics gear that can examine spent bullets to identify guns in the same way a fingerprint can identify a perpetrator.
State police have five such machines, Detroit one.
Detroit isn't rolling in bucks.