By Matt Rooney
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One of the most maddening storylines of the current unrest – at least for those of us who aren’t brainwashed – is the stunning lack of actual solutions being presented by the Left. The Left (as we know) created the urban crisis; unwilling or unable to admit that their policies laid the groundwork for the death of George Floyd and countless other black males, they’ve fallen back on the usual, familiar, lazy “reparations” talking point along with vague calls for “better training” though no one – even on the Left – can agree on what that means.
There is another more obscure idea which isn’t new but suddenly has plenty of tractions in major urban centers: “defunding” the police.”
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Again, there isn’t universal agreement as to what it means. Many protesters don’t think it’s ambiguous: they’d like to literally see the police, as an institution, go away. Insane? Sure. But there you have it. Other Leftists say no no, that’s not what we really mean at all, but rather we’d love to see funds redirected away from the “militarization” of the police to community projects and social programs. Specifics are predictably hard to come by.
Suddenly, in a desperate search to give all of this meaning, the Media is latching onto an example which they believe gives the idea of reining in the police credibility: Camden, New Jersey and the 2013 dissolution of the city police force. It’s still touted by then-Governor Chris Christie and the South Jersey Democrats as a crowning achievement in the infamously-troubled city’s history.
Of course, Camden still has a police force.
In fact, it has MORE police today than it did back then… in the form of a “county” department which solely patrols the city because surrounding surburban communities (also run by Democrats) didn’t want anything to do with it.
“Make sure you build the trust of your residents in the police department. The partnership between the residents and the department is crucial,” Freeholder Director Lou Cappelli, Jr. recently told NJ 101.5 when asked about the Camden example.
That’s not 100% true. Yes, more emphasis has been put on community involvement and de-escalation tactics. The county also took local control away from the city’s citizens (so not much “trust” there); it also increased survellience and technology-driven monitoring tools, and it adopted a modified variation of what used to be called “broken windows policing” to compliment its technology assault with boots on the ground. Advocates of the model say the county force’s reforms have resulted in a decrease in overall violent crime. Many Bernie Sanders-types would nevertheless find some fo these tactics abhorrent.
Another fly in the ointment of committed Leftists: union-busting.
By firing union city cops and hiring (or rehiring) police as county employees, the new county force reduced costs per officer from $182k+ to about $99k+ all while increasing the police force from 175 officers (in 2011) to about 380 county officers today (down from 401). At that size, Camden could boast 1 officers per 192 residents as opposed to 1 for every 417 residents.
Costs have still risen, too. The city (which remains hooked on state aid) allotted a little over $30 million for the police department in 2012. Two years ago? The county force spent over $68 million.
More officers. More money. Reforms which aren’t exactly woke.
A better product? Yes, in some respects, though Camden remains desperately poor, fiscally-dependent on the state, and crime-ridden by any objective measure despite clear reductions in most categories.
But the Camden experiment – for all of its successes, shortcomings, and exaggerated victories – is hardly a social justice masterpiece or Leftist fairy tale as many on the Left are working overtime to cast it. Far from it. Not even close.
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Save Jersey’s Founder and Blogger-in-Chief, MATT ROONEY is a nationally-noted and respected New Jersey political commentator. When he’s not on-line, radio or television advocating for conservative reform and challenging N.J. power-brokers, Matt is a practicing attorney at the law firm of DeMichele & DeMichele in Haddon Heights (Camden County).
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