salty,
2020 was not a one year blip, after BLM = defund the police.
History shows that, contrary to right wing lies, police reform actually works:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ne ... t-n1231677
Camden, N.J. disbanded its police force. Here's what happened next.
Crime dropped in Camden, but there’s more to the story, say advocates and longtime residents.
It has been hailed as a potential model of police reform, a crime-ridden city in southern New Jersey that disbanded its force and rebuilt it from the ground up.
The Camden Police Department underwent the unprecedented overhaul in 2013, leading to sharp reductions in crime and a focus on improved community relations. Seven years later, with the nation grappling over police reform after the killing of George Floyd, attention has turned to Camden for lessons on the path forward.
The reality, residents and advocates say, is complicated. Camden no doubt feels safer than it was a decade ago, they acknowledge, but the process was rocky, and problems persist.
In its early days, the new force ramped up summonses for such offenses as riding a bicycle without a bell, sparking a backlash from groups like the American Civil Liberties Union. The department ultimately reversed course and implemented sweeping policy changes, but some long-term residents said the current stable of officers, nearly half of whom are white and many of whom live far from town, still have much work to do in building trust and confidence within the community.
"They are not jumping out dunking people on their head no more," said Anthony Ways, who runs a community youth center. "But they are sitting there — 2, 3 in the morning — with the lights flashing being an intimidating presence."
Ways spent 13 years in prison on a murder charge before he was exonerated in 2005.
"Somewhere in the middle," he said, "they have to find that sweet spot where they can police but, at the same time, take account of the citizens and their concerns."
Camden, a city of roughly 74,000 just across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, was a thriving manufacturing hub in the early 1900s. But by the turn of the century, the city was in steep decline, and suffering from a population exodus.
Camden faced a crisis beginning in 2010, when the state slashed aid funding as part of spending cuts that Chris Christie, then the governor, imposed in the aftermath of the financial crisis.
Roughly half of Camden's 360 police officers were laid off. Arrests plummeted. Violent crime spiked.
In 2012, Camden recorded 67 homicides and 172 shooting victims. It was ranked the most dangerous city in America, with a murder rate more than 18 times the national average, according to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting Program.
With the city in dire straits, Christie and state Democratic lawmakers pushed to regionalize its police force. Politicians in Camden, including Dana Redd, then the mayor, lent their support to breaking up the city's all-union police department and replacing it with a larger but lower-paid force.
Despite stiff pressure from the union and an outspoken group of residents, the Camden Police Department was formally disbanded in 2013.
The new force was led by the existing Camden police chief, Scott Thomson. He moved to remake the ethos of the department.
"We were going to have all of our officers have the identity of guardians and not warriors," Thomson said in an interview.
more ....
Excessive force complaints have DROPPED 95%.
Too bad that the salty's and other right wingers of this troubled society always have their way. No wonder society is so f_____d up. Blame them, not Democrats and don't blame me.