By Joanna Putman
Police1
MOBILE, Ala. — An Alabama sheriff has announced his office has achieved a 100% homicide closure rate in the last 13 years, FOX 10 reported.
Mobile County Sheriff Paul Burch told FOX 10 that the achievement was possible because of the hard work of homicide detectives in the department.
“On any given day working on a case like this they’re working 14-16 hours, and it can be upward of 20 personnel doing that because it’s important for the safety of the community to get a murderer off the street,” Burch said.
Burch also noted a high conviction rate for the homicide arrests, saying that this helps families and communities experience a “semblance of closure and a bite of justice,” according to the report.
“I wasn’t always well-liked when we had a homicide because my policy is always [that] we don’t go home until we have someone in handcuffs or a name and someone we can sign a warrant on,” Burch said.
The sheriff’s office had an 87% clearance rate for overall crime last year, a figure which has seen a steady increase over the past five years, according to the report.