Philadelphia Inquirer- Letter to the Editor

Posted on Thu, Dec. 09, 2004

Anticrime strategy key for Camden
Officers' shifts should match crime patterns.
By Jeffrey Brenner and Richard A. Harris


Camden stands at a critical juncture in its efforts toward economic recovery. With a significant commitment from Trenton, remarkable strides have been taken to attract public and private development to the city. The hospitals and universities are expanding, new tourist attractions are under construction at the waterfront, market-rate housing is coming to several neighborhoods, and businesses are opening downtown. Regrettably, this progress is threatened by Camden's violence and crime, fed largely by a robust drug trade.

Statistical publisher Morgan Quitno rated Camden the most dangerous city in the country for 2003. The FBI's national Uniform Crime Report shows increases in Camden crime from 2002 to 2003 of 41 percent for robberies, 24 percent for murder, 26 percent for burglary, 24 percent for rape, and 22 percent for aggravated assault. Recent crimes are a sobering reminder of the real-life impact of the data: Recently a stray bullet from a drug-corner shoot-out hit a 2-year-old.

While any thoughtful observer of urban decline must acknowledge its deep roots in middle-class flight, the exodus of business, and racial disharmony, Camden cannot afford to tolerate its current level of crime while its people wait for the redress of these long-standing issues. Attacking the city's public-safety crisis immediately is essential for revitalization. The key to an anticrime effort must be sound police strategy guided by a strong empirical assessment and supported by the criminal-justice system as well as key community leaders.

In Camden, research already exists to help the police formulate a strategy. The department of family medicine at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School has examined assault data from the Cooper University Hospital emergency room for 2001 through 2003. Also, the Walter Rand Institute for Public Affairs at Rutgers University-Camden has worked with the Camden police to analyze records of violent crime. These research efforts paint a similar picture.

The family medicine department documented a steady increase in residents coming to the emergency room after assaults. Most assaults were unarmed fights, and victims were 16 to 24 years old. The assault rate in the city is quite variable, especially in the Lanning Square area near downtown. The assault rate in Lanning Square climbed from one in 100 residents going to the Cooper emergency room in 2001 to one in 40 in 2003.

The Rand Institute identified incidents of aggravated assault, especially assaults with a gun, as critical in Camden. Tracking with the emergency-room assault data, this research shows that 18- to 24-year-old men are usually both the perpetrators and victims in aggravated assaults in the city. Aggravated assaults reported in Camden went from 983 in 1999 to a low of 757 in 2002 and back up to 973 in 2003.

Mapping these crimes geographically shows that several neighborhoods are affected, with high concentrations in central Camden (Lanning and Bergen Squares and Centerville) and East Camden (Stockton, Marlton and Dudley). The incidents of aggravated assaults match up closely with identified drug sets and with major arteries that access the city. These crimes tend to occur between 7 p.m. and 2 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, with monthly peaks July through September.

Based on this research, we have a reasonably clear picture of who is committing violent crime and who the victims are. We also have a good idea of when and where these crimes are being committed. This situation raises the question, "Why haven't the police been successful in combating violent crime?"

Since November 1998, the Camden County Prosecutor's Office has overseen the city's Police Department. Administrative and leadership breakdowns in the department have been documented in audits by the state Division of Criminal Justice in 1987, 1996, 1998 and 2002. The audits reported breakdowns in such areas as telecommunications, the evidence room, the motor pool, internal affairs, and deployment. Many of the reported problems have been fixed in a partnership between the Prosecutor's Office and the Police Department, but several remain, chief among them officer deployment.

Since 1996, the state has recommended that city officers be deployed in work shifts consistent with the crime patterns. In 2002, the state wrote, "It is essential that the work schedule be removed from the collective bargaining agreement, and that management then deploy officers in numbers proportionate to the varying workload demands by day of week, hour of day, and location." The current police contract is set to expire this month, providing an opportunity to renegotiate the contract to allow more sensible deployment of officers.

We urge the city's leadership and the leadership of the police bargaining unit to focus on what is best for Camden by renegotiating this work-rule provision and following the repeated recommendations of the state. Only then will the police be able to implement an anticrime strategy that is driven by what we know about violent crime in Camden.

Repeatedly, the state has sent the state police as a temporary fix to address crime in Camden. As crime and public attention decline, they begin to withdraw the officers. Their current deployment is no different, with numbers starting at 100 last year and falling below 20 uniformed patrol officers now. This comes at a precarious time because a hiring freeze in the Camden Police Department has prevented the replacement of 16 officers.

While the state police's return is helpful in the short run, the attrition of Camden police makes sensible and strategic assignment of the remaining officers only more urgent. Unless the system of inappropriate work rules changes, a sound deployment strategy is not possible.

Poverty and lack of opportunity contribute to a high crime rate in Camden. However, most residents in Camden are law-abiding citizens. They deserve safe neighborhoods and a chief of police and Police Department that are committed to fighting crime, without a work schedule that impairs effective law enforcement.
Jeffrey Brenner is a family physician who lives and works in Camden. He can be reached at brennejc@umdnj.edu. Richard A. Harris is director of the Walter Rand Institute for Public Affairs at Rutgers-Camden. To learn more, visit www.camconnect.org/.



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