Posted on 08/26/2012 5:12:44 AM PDT by tobyhill
Crime-ridden Camden, New Jersey - often referred to as the most dangerous city in the United States—is getting rid of its police department.
In the latest example of a cash-strapped municipality taking drastic measures to deal with swollen public sector liabilities and shrinking budgets, the city plans to disband its 460-member police department and replace it with a non-union “Metro Division” of the Camden County Police. Backers of the plan say it will save millions of dollars for taxpayers while ensuring public safety, but police unions say it is simply a way to get out of collective bargaining with the men and women in blue.
“This is definitely a form of union-busting," Camden Fraternal Order of Police President John Williamson told FoxNews.com. “This method is unproven and untested, to put your faith in an agency that doesn’t even [yet] exist.”
Camden County Mayor Dana Redd has said layoffs of the city’s police force will begin by the end of the month. Only 49 percent of current city police officers will be transferred to the new county division, whose members will begin a four- to five-month training program.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I presume that the department of diversity , or whatever they call it, will remain untouched.
Camden is the city in New Jersey that makes Newark look like a beautiful, well-ordered, well-functioning city.
Going from a union government agency to a non-union government agency can only be an improvement.
It will be a temporary improvement just until the unions get their hands on the new agency.
this Virus is going from California to North East called Unions
Another PUBLIC EMPLOYEE’s UNION without Obama Stimulus funds.
Obama has no need for any army that he doesn’t command. The unions are just too slow to understand that they are of value to him for only about the next 71 days. He’s pretty sure he can BS them that long.
So now the drug cartels have a homebase.
“but police unions say it is simply a way to get out of collective bargaining with the men and women in blue.
“This is definitely a form of union-busting,”
Ding Ding we have a winner.
The police ought to give thanks that there is at least a chance of survival.
should consider doing something similar on Long Island....where Suffolk COunty cops are now making...in some cases...$200K+...throw in the $100K+ teachers....and LI going down the toilet...
If people carried guns, and if self-defense were liberally interpreted, public safety would go up considerably, and bad guys would think twice about touching other people's property.
I see the police as not entirely useless, but nearly so. I would much rather have people known as "public secretaries" who could show up at fender benders and take notes for your insurance companies, and perform other low-grade tasks to benefit the public.
“...but police unions say it is simply a way to get out of collective bargaining with the men and women in blue.”
Well, not really. It’s just a pleasant result, actually. The notion that union busting is the primary reason is simply an example of the arrogance of unions, in general, in this age of the Libtard.
Dissolve CITY services and transfer the responsibility to COUNTY services...
If Camden can do it, any city can do it...
Once a municipality covers half or more of an entire county, there’s no point in having both a PD and a county sheriff department. Lots of cities are figuring this out and they are gradually expanding the sheriff dept and freezing, shrinking, or doing away entirely with the bloated police departments.
But if we get rid of the police, who’s going to shoot all the mean dogs?
An interesting concept, if it could be workable. I’ll tell you up front I’m a policeman in Ohio. I recently quit my union because I was tired of the politics and favoritism towards democrat ideals. I now have to pay ‘fair share’ which is significantly less than union dues but I don’t like it.
One of the problems I see from my side of the fence is this. Cities like Camden and the one I work in, are liberal welfare towns. We operate at bare minimum staffing and have for years. Bare bones staffing means there is not alot of time to do proactive police work.
For instance. I go on calls and people complain about response time and follow up. I ask them “this city has 70,000 residents, how many police officers do you think are working the road right now?” Generally they say “20.” That seems to be the common guess. When I tell them “6, or if we’re lucky 7” they understand.
Here in Ohio we have concealed carry. I think it’s great but I don’t see any reduction in crime. We have block watches and again, no noticeable drop in crime. Burglars break in people’s houses in broad daylight. If the neighbors don’t notice anything, how will the police?
Who is going to pay the ‘public secretaries’ you mention? Just curious about that one. Who is going to volunteer to stay up all night to watch their neighborhoods when most crimes occur? How about in the daytime? Who is going to follow up on crimes in order to get property back? Does liberal self defense interpretation of gun laws mean that if someone sees a burglar at their neighbors house they can shoot them?
Alot of questions here. A better partnership between the citizens and the police would be beneficial, but making that happen is the problem.
When I tried out the new River Line in 2005, the downtown Camden I saw looked like Dresden after the war. Nothing stood but government buildings. I walked a few blocks near the county courthouse, pulling myself up to my full six-foot-two and put a mean expression on my face, "I'm bad! I'm bad!" I wasn't bad enough, and I skedaddled back to the light rail station. I must have stood out like the white grape in a bunch of purple grapes. Kids were sitting on the elevated platform dangling their legs over the lip into the right of way.
On the way back, the train had three cops and a dog, and were those passengers well behaved! "May I see your ticket please?" "Yes, sir, officer, sir." I couldn't keep a straight face, and the cop smiled at me. It reminded me of a Catholic girls' school with the cops as nuns carrying their yardsticks. Everybody sat straight up, hands folded, looking straight ahead.
I haven't been there since.
The single best fate for Camden would be for the state to disincorporate the town and put it under country control altogether.
Why that’s just a really good news story — I was expecting it to be bad. Turning policing over to a county sheriff style operation sounds like it will lead to economies of scale, greater span of jurisdiction, fewer communication, coordination, command, and control problems. And you get to bust a union to boot! An all around good story.
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