Despite PR, crime still an issue for Camden
Last year, Camden’s violent crime rate was 2,015 per 100,000 people, far surpassing the second most violent city, Atlantic City, with 1,322.
By Tom Torok
The new Camden County Police Department, which serves only the City of Camden, is courting Pennsauken Township to join the fold.
Is Camden County kidding?
Here are some of the dubious selling points of this new "county" department:
Camden remained the most violent city in the state — by a very large margin — under the new department.
Last year, there were 65 excessive-force complaints, the highest in the state.
Morale and pay are so low in the new department that officers are leaving in droves.
This department, which underwent the first and only restructuring of its kind in the country, was formed under extraordinary circumstances. Facing severe cuts in state aid and rising taxes, Camden City laid off nearly half its police force in 2011. It paid the price with a record number of homicides and rampant crime.
In response to the rising crime, the poorest city in America fired all the remaining police personnel the following year and formed a new "county" department, which serves only Camden.
The rapid and dramatic rise in murders and other crimes after 2011 has served as a boon to those hyping the successes of this new department. Everything looks good in comparison.
Proponents of the new department crafted a brilliant public-relations campaign for the department that has drawn praise from Gov. Christie and others, and merited a visit by President Obama on Monday. Chief Scott Thomson recently boasted at a public-safety symposium at Harvard University that shootings are down 43 percent and the number of violent crimes is down 22 percent.
As a resident of Merchantville, which is nearly surrounded by Pennsauken, I look at other facts, and those facts prompt me to urge Pennsauken to reply to Camden County's offer with a polite but firm: "Thanks, but no thanks."
Last year, Camden's violent crime rate was 2,015 per 100,000 people, far surpassing the second most violent city, Atlantic City, with 1,322.
Furthermore, without reverting to such extreme measures as firing their departments, Atlantic City and Jersey City were more successful in curbing violent crime last year than Camden's new department.
Another problem facing Camden's "county" department is retention. It can't seem to hire enough officers to meet its stated staffing goal of 411. As of this writing, the department has about 359 officers.
Since the department formed about two years ago, about 120 officers have resigned or retired, a rate that is one of the highest in the state. Resigning officers have cited low pay, petty department policies, and travel distance from home as reasons for leaving. Starting pay in Camden is $31,407, and it increases to $41,158 when they graduate from the academy. Starting pay is $47,000 in Pennsauken. The average tenure for resigning officers is about seven to eight months.
As part of the wooing process, Camden County has advised Pennsauken that it can realize savings because its current police force is over staffed.
Pennsauken should be cautious about the county's staffing assessments. In 2011, after Camden laid off about half of its police force, Thomson, who was then the city police chief, told Elizabeth Fiedler of WHYY that the city would not be more dangerous than after the layoffs.
That year, the number of murders in Camden rose from 37 to 47 and the following year they rose to 67, a record for the city. Clearly, the layoffs made a difference.
Pennsauken is not facing the extraordinary circumstances that Camden did. Its finances are sound, with Moody's Investor Service rating the township's latest short-term borrowing status as "best" or "high." Its violent crime rate is nine times lower than Camden's — nine times!
Pennsauken police cruisers continually pass through my neighborhood. The patrolling officers don't know me, but they know my community; they know when something looks amiss. Will a stream of newcomers with less than a year's worth of experience know that?
One rationale for Pennsauken switching to the county department is money. While I'm all for lowering taxes, Pennsauken residents should think long and hard about this change and ask if adopting an unproven experiment is worth the risks.
Tom Torok is a retired projects editor for The New York Times and a former columnist and reporter for The Inquirer. ttorok@phillynews.com