I think everyone knows Camden, New Jersey is a troubled city.
The police acknowledge that they have all but ceded these streets to crime, with murders on track to break records this year.
What to do, what to do?
Answer: burn it to the ground and start over.
…in November, Camden, which has already had substantial police layoffs, will begin terminating the remaining 273 officers and give control to a new county force. The move, officials say, will free up millions to hire a larger, nonunionized force of 400 officers to safeguard the city, which is also the nation’s poorest.
More:
Though the city is solidly Democratic, the plan to put the Police Department out of business has not prompted the wide public outcry seen in the union battles in Chicago, Ohio or Wisconsin, in part because many residents have come to resent a police force they see as incompetent, corrupt and doing little to make their streets safe.
So I’m wondering where people think the Camden PD officers are going? Do they really think these “incompetent, corrupt, and doing little” officers aren’t going to wind up as part of the new county force? It isn’t just a question of politics: where is the new force supposed to get 400 trained officers from, if not from the pool of existing officers who aren’t currently working?
Camden’s budget was $167 million last year, and of that, the budget for the police was $55 million. Yet the city collected only $21 million in property taxes. It has relied on state aid to make up the difference, but the state is turning off the spigot.
More:
For example, officers earn an additional 4 percent for working a day shift, and an additional 10 percent for the shift starting at 9:30 p.m. They earn an additional 11 percent for working on a special tactical force or an anticrime patrol.
I’m going to have to propose that to my boss. “Hey, boss. I’d like an extra four percent for working my normal 8-5 shift. How about it?” (My company actually does pay a night shift differential.)
Salaries range from about $47,000 to $81,000 now, not including the shift differentials or additional longevity payments of 3 percent to 11 percent for any officer who has worked five years or more. Officials say they anticipate salaries for the new force will range from $47,000 to $87,000.
Before: $47,000 to $81,000. After: $47,000 to $87,000. This is the kind of thinking that has gotten us to where we are today: nimble-footed sprinters on the treadmill of life. (Tne NYT is unclear as to whether the “after” includes shift differentials and the special incentives.)
And liberal sick time and family-leave policies have created an unusually high absentee rate: every day, nearly 30 percent of the force does not show up. (A typical rate elsewhere is in the single digits.)
And:
Under labor law, the current contract will remain in effect if the new county force hires more than 49 percent of the current officers. So county officials say they will hire fewer than that. Nevertheless, they expect that the new force will eventually become unionized.
I see. So they can hire up to 49% of the current Camden officers. 49% of 400 is 196. The current Camden PD has 273 officers. Interesting numbers there.