Dangerous City Cuts Police Force in Half

Dr. Pete @ Flickr

Camden New Jersey, ranked America’s second most dangerous city in 2010 and its most dangerous place to live in 2009 – is letting half its police force go.

As one of America’s poorest cities with a median income of just over 26k, (by margin of error variations, it may be the poorest) the majority of the city’s policing budget comes from a state aid package – a package that’s been slashed by Republican Gov. Chris Christie, who vetoed a bill that would raise taxes on the state’s millionaires to raise funds for essential services. As a result, there’s no money left to pay for a police force for already running far behind the drugs dealers and gangs that in fact  run this impoverished city.

In an ad taken out by the city’s Fraternal Order of Police, officers predict that the city will become, “a living hell.”

County prosecutors also expected dark days to come, or as one put it, “It’s going to be a hard lift. We’re going to prepare for the worst.”