Crime dropped by nearly a third in New Jersey town after police dept disbanded and replaced by community cops
A CITY in New Jersey disbanded its police department more than seven years ago following widespread corruption – and the area actually saw crime fall. Minneapolis officials will likely be looking to Camden after they pledged to break up the city’s police force following the death of George Floyd. Although Camden’s population is around 17% […]
A CITY in New Jersey disbanded its police department more than seven years ago following widespread corruption – and the area actually saw crime fall.
Minneapolis officials will likely be looking to Camden after they pledged to break up the city’s police force following the death of George Floyd.
Although Camden’s population is around 17% of the size of Minneapolis, but before its groundbreaking decision, it was regularly named one of the most violent cities in the US.
In 2013, it had one of the highest murder rates in the country.
In 2012, the city gave the police department the heave, rehiring 100 officers, and 150 new recruits, and crime has now dropped by 42%, according to CNN.
Retired Chief Scott Thompson helped start the new program.
“The organization from which we created was one in which a cultures from day one was that our officers would be guardians and not warriors,” Thompson told CBS Local.
Other cities have broken up their police forces, but usually over funding issues: Garden City in Missouri couldn’t afford to keep its officers employed, while Deposit in New York’s department cost too much money to run.
In Camden, lawsuits filed against the department uncovered that officers routinely planted evidence on suspects, fabricated reports and committed perjury, CNN reported.
After the corruption was exposed, courts overturned the convictions of 88 people, the ACLU said in 2013.
Now, Camden’s remaining police knock on residents’ doors to introduce themselves, hold neighborhood parties, conduct outreach programs to find out what residents want improving, and even hold drive-in movie nights.
Officials also bumped up the number of black and brown officers on the team, as whites are the minority in the city, and ethnic minorities make up 50% of the team.
“Not everybody can be de-escalated but if we can have them thinking morally, have them acting ethically that more often than not, those deadly force encounters can be avoided,” Lt. Kevin Lutz who is on the Camden force said.
In Minneapolis, nine of 12 city council members have vowed to end the current system of policing and invest in community-led safety instead.
This comes just as the state of Minnesota has launched a civil rights investigation into Floyd’s death.
The 46-year-old black man died after officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes on May 25, prompting widespread outrage and four cops being charged.
“It is clear that our system of policing is not keeping our communities safe,” Lisa Bender, the council president, said. “Our efforts at incremental reform have failed, period.”
Bender went on to say she and the eight other council members that joined the rally are committed to ending the city’s relationship with the police force.
She vowed to “end policing as we know it and recreate systems that actually keep us safe.”
The council president added: “We’re here because we hear you. We are here today because George Floyd was killed by the Minneapolis Police.
“We are here because here in Minneapolis and in cities across the United States it is clear that our existing system of policing and public safety is not keeping our communities safe.
“Our efforts at incremental reform have failed. Period.”
The Democrats have also unveiled a sweeping police reform bill banning no-knock warrants in drug cases, and the use of chokeholds.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and members of the Congressional Black Caucus announced the Justice in Policing Act at the Capitol on Monday, after taking a knee for eight minutes to honor George Floyd.
The sweeping legislation seemed to be a direct response to nationwide protests after the deaths of Floyd, who died after a police officer kneeled on his neck, and Breonna Taylor, shot dead by police in Louisville, Kentucky asleep in her home.
Earlier on Monday, President Donald Trump hit out at “radical left Democrats” for wanting to “defund and abolish” the police.
“LAW & ORDER, NOT DEFUND AND ABOLISH THE POLICE,” Trump tweeted.
“The Radical Left Democrats have gone Crazy!”
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Even Senator Bernie Sanders said he doesn’t support abolishing police departments as some in the “progressive movement” and Black Lives Matter protesters have called for.
“There’s no city in the world that does not have police departments,” he said.
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“I think we want to redefine what police departments do, give them the support they need to make their jobs better defined.”
“So I do believe that we need well-trained, well-educated, and well-paid professionals in police departments.”
The senator continued: “Too often around this country right now, you have police officers who take the job at very low payment, don’t have much education, don’t have much training — and I want to change that.”
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