Police layoffs make crime-plagued Camden all the worse

[DainBramaged]

From the windows of R.C. Molina Elementary School, teacher's aide Carla Noville could see the Camden, N.J., police patrolling at Seventh and Vine streets, keeping the corner by the playground relatively free of the drug dealing that plagues this city. Just last July, Mayor Dana Redd declared Sixth Street, a block over, a "safe corridor" that police would patrol heavily to beat back the corner drug trade.

That was before crime-ridden Camden — the poorest city in New Jersey and a byword for urban failure — cut its police force nearly in half to balance a $26 million budget deficit. After losing millions in state aid and unable to gain concessions on a union contract, the city laid off 300 employees last month including 167 cops and 60 firefighters.

"That's going to be scary, without seeing them being there," Noville says now. "They are needed. They are needed. Come on, how are we supposed to survive without the cops?"

Other cities in New Jersey, including Newark and Atlantic City, have laid off police to close budget gaps and to make up for cuts in state aid made by Republican Gov. Chris Christie. But no other city fired as much of its force as Camden, nor do other cities have a history as woeful as this one. Camden is one of the poorest cities in the nation: more than half its residents live in poverty. It ranks at or near the top of annual lists of the most dangerous cities. From 2002 until last year, the state controlled the city's finances and government.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-02-14-camden-cops_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip

[sharp_stick]

1. I can only imagine how bad it is now

I used to dread crossing the Ben Franklin at the best of times when I had to get to Cherry Hill.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

2. Basic question is why isn't a large urban area self supporting

No one seems willing to answer that