What Happened to Crime in Camden? citylab.com/equity/2018/01…
"So what’s happening in this city, which for many years has been deemed among the dangerous in America? Thomson, who took the helm of the Camden police force in 2008, says the biggest factor may have been the change in structure of the department itself."
"In 2013, the Camden Police Department was disbanded, reimagined, and born again as the Camden County Police Department, with fewer officers, lower pay—and a strategic shift toward “community policing.”
"Thomson characterizes the 2013 overhaul as “hitting the reset button.” To hear him describe it, the turn towards community-cop symbiosis was like flicking a switch. “We were able to do in three days what it took three years to do before,” he said."
"Camden is now something of a showroom for community policing techniques. Officers are trained to use handguns and handcuffs only as tools of last resort. To increase accountability, members of the department are equipped with GPS tracking devices, and many wear body cameras..."
"...the available data pool is small. “We just don’t have good data on how changes in policing produce changes in these kinds of outcomes. What we haven’t had until now is a comprehensive test of all that in one place—Camden allows for an anecdote about that.”
But...this is what it took.
How many politicians will have this type of courage, basically wiping out the police and its local union in one fell swoop?
dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2…
How many politicians will have this type of courage, basically wiping out the police and its local union in one fell swoop?
dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2…
