WAYNE COUNTY, Mich. – There appears to be a major staff shortage at the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office.
According to the Detroit Free Press, the office has lost almost a third of its staff, a trend that’s been spiraling downward since the early pandemic days of 2020.
We’re told there’s even a shortage of prosecutors resulting in the backlog of cases that continue to stack up day by day.
Part of the issue also seems to be the fact that the WCPO may not pay as much as other counties in the region.
Worthy is said to have sent out an email to retired prosecutors urging them to make a return for the sake of the office altogether.
As it stands the Wayne County Circuit Court right now has thousands of cases waiting to go to trial while tens of thousands of cases are actively pending at this point in time.
Worthy sent Local 4 News this statement.
“Our staff has been significantly reduced since 2020 during the time of the pandemic. This has been an extremely stressful and difficult time for my entire staff. We are working to reduce the caseloads and get assistance to the staff. In keeping with that, we have expanded our search from southeast Michigan to a nationwide search to recruit new staff members. We appreciate that CEO Warren C. Evans, his staff, and the Wayne County Commission are aware of our current salary and retention issues and have been working with us to address this,” the statement read.
Read more: Headlines from around Wayne County