Violent crime spikes after Camden halves police force

Article

Two months after Camden, NJ, laid off 160 police officers, city prosecutors have released a sobering report showing a dramatic rise in violent crime in the drug-and-crime-ridden city of 80,000 residents

Aggravated assaults with firearms jumped 259 percent in January and February compared to last year, and violent crime over all is up 19 percent, the Camden County Prosecutor's Office told the Philadelphia Inquirer. Murders and robberies, however, were down for the period.

Well, I cant say I didnt see this coming.

Sorry for the Wall Street bankers crashing the global economy and all, but hey, lets get rid of the police instead..... and the teachers.....and firemen.......who needs help or an education nowdays????? I guess its a free-for-all now. (sarcasm)

Its not like this was a big increase in some areas (Aggravated assault with firearms)......they only rose by 259 percent.....thats nowhere close to a few hundred billion.....(more sarcasm)

Camden Police Chief J. Scott Thomson has cut his salary by $15,000 and demoted many of his remaining senior police officers to patrol positions after the massive layoffs, according to the New York Times. After union-city negotiations broke down in January, the city fired nearly every officer hired after 1998, following the union-dictated seniority layoff policy. So the remaining police force of 200 officers is middle-aged.

12 years in the force....oh well, your gone now.

"They love seeing a 40-year-old cop get out of that car instead of a 24-year-old guy who can actually chase them down," an unnamed police officer told the Times, referring to criminals.

Im sure the criminals love this.

And residents are wasting their time, sources say, if they report nonviolent serious crimes. "If you're not shot or murdered, or if it does not involve a drug gang, it's not going to be investigated," another anonymous cop told the Times. An anti-crime group called The Guardian Angels volunteered to patrol the streets after January's layoffs.

I guess you just have to be murdered or seriously near death if I am to get any help.

Heres the only really positive side to the story below.

Camden is one of the nation's most impoverished and crime-ridden cities, though a drop in the murder rate in 2009 and 2010 raised hopes among residents that the tide could be turning.

But, they layoffs were only 2 months ago......

I wonder if the criminals are all the cops that got laid off!

Not really serious though...

This is how Republicans save money. Just keep that in mind next time you go to the ballot box.

Guaranteed they'll still be arresting people and raiding peoples' houses for drug charges...

I remember seeing the news articles last year saying how camden was cutting police by 50%... I figured it was only a matter of time before seeing what has happened since...

Its a damn shame we care more about policing the world, instead of our own country

Heres another article I found about this. Article

Police headquarters now sits nearly empty, its front reception window sometimes closed, as most of the department’s staff has been pushed onto the street for patrol duty. Detectives cannot devote as much time to investigations; a widely praised bicycle unit was disbanded. Even the canine unit lost two of its three dogs.

This article gives numbers, instead of a percentage on assaults involving firearms.

It is too early to tell if the police layoffs have allowed more crime to occur; in the first two months of 2011, there were fewer homicides than during the same period last year. But the number of assaults involving a firearm has more than tripled to 79 from 22 over that period.

Still, at times, the department is fielding as few as a dozen patrol cars during the day, according to three current officers who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss department staffing.

Plus, the city will be monitored by CCTV soon.

Chief Thomson said some level of assistance would come from a not-yet-operational network of surveillance cameras that will allow “officers at headquarters to conduct virtual patrols.”

In both the OP article and this one, isnt it a bit odd that some of the current police officers prefer to remain anonymous?

This article says they even interviewed a drug dealer.

Across the street from a day care center in North Camden, a destination for heroin addicts across South Jersey, a drug dealer who had been standing on the corner for nine hours that day said he already felt less hassled by the police.

“Since the cop layoff, there is no police presence,” said a 34-year-old man who gave his name only as Jose and offered that he “still sells drugs here and there.”

Originally posted by TheWalkingFox
This is how Republicans save money. Just keep that in mind next time you go to the ballot box.

This is how any politician saves money.. fire teachers and police officers and next time on the ballot there's a tax increase, everyone supports it.

Some would call it extortion .. though ignorant people believing in a "two party system" blame it on the other guys and think it's normal.

Originally posted by Rockpuck

Originally posted by TheWalkingFox
This is how Republicans save money. Just keep that in mind next time you go to the ballot box.

This is how any politician saves money.. fire teachers and police officers and next time on the ballot there's a tax increase, everyone supports it.

Some would call it extortion ..

And some people think farts smell like rosebuds, too, don't mean they're the sort of people who's opinions are worth paying attention to. If you have a structured society, then you are dependent on people performing functions in that society. it's in everyone's mutual interests to make sure everyone else is doing well. Cops? Sure, but grocers, garbage collectors, and auto mechanics, too.

You call it extortion? Alright then, it's extortion from the other end too; "Take a pay cut or I fire you," how's that look?

though ignorant people believing in a "two party system" blame it on the other guys and think it's normal.

You misunderstand. I'm not bashing Republicans because I'm for Democrats. I'm bashing Republicans because Republicans do stupid crap all the time that screws people over, and they aren't fit to run a fish store, much less a country.

Subtle difference, I suppose.