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An Anonymous Coward writes:
Camden, New Jersey is a very low income neighborhood. According to this NY Times article, until recently it had typical low income policing--heavy on corruption and violence and low on compassion.
But now they have a new chief and things have changed --
"Handing a $250 ticket to someone who is making $13,000 a year" — around the per capita income in the city — "can be life altering," Chief Thomson said in an interview last year, noting that it can make car insurance unaffordable or result in the loss of a driver's license. "Taxing a poor community is not going to make it stronger."
Handling more vehicle stops with a warning, rather than a ticket, is one element of Chief Thomson's new approach, which, for lack of another name, might be called the Hippocratic ethos of policing: Minimize harm, and try to save lives.
Officers are trained to hold their fire when possible, especially when confronting people wielding knives and showing signs of mental illness, and to engage them in conversation when commands of "drop the knife" don't work. This sometimes requires backing up to a safer distance. Or relying on patience rather than anything on an officer's gun belt.
While not out of the woods yet, it sounds like there is hope for Camden and maybe it won't just continue to be written off as a war zone.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Grishnakh on Monday April 03 2017, @08:33PM (2 children)
Telling cops to hold their fire when possible (esp. when people seem to be mentally ill)? Avoiding giving huge tickets to people making $13k/year? Telling cops to be more patient? This is totally unAmerican!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 03 2017, @09:40PM
Here's what it looked like in Camden in August 2012, lots of rack and ruin photos, and very few people out on the streets,
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2184246/Americas-dangerous-city-Camden-New-Jersey-39-people-murdered-year.html [dailymail.co.uk]
Probably doesn't look any better now, but if the NY Times story is correct and they are turning the tide on violence...then some of the surviving industrial buildings look like they would make great (and currently very cheap) artist lofts or maker spaces.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 03 2017, @09:44PM
And an update from 2015 when Obama visited and spoke about limiting sales of surplus military equipment to police forces,
https://newsone.com/3115808/camden-nj-america-poorest-city-obama-police-initiative/ [newsone.com]