President Obama came to Camden, N.J. to praise what the town had done with its police department, to hold it up as an example of the right way to go. What he didn’t mention was the turnaround in Camden was largely the work of a Democratic power boss, George Norcross III, and a Republican governor, Chris Christie, who owes a lot to Democratic party bosses. While Obama was in New Jersey, Christie was in New Hampshire trying to get past 6 percent in the race for the Republican nominees for president in 2016.
For years Camden was one of the most dangerous cities in America. It was not a place you wanted to go day or night. They did a survey of the police department and found a large number of officers had day jobs at desks instead of patrolling the mean streets. Lots of state money found its way to Camden but it was hard to see where it went. It was a rat’s nest of political hacks. Budget cuts in 2011 forced layoffs in the police department. Things got even worse.
On 2013 the police department was dismantled along with its union. It was taken over by the county, which answers to Norcross as does the Camden city government. Although Norcross doesn’t live in Camden, he grew up there and has a genuine love for the place.
The new force is younger, more high tech, paid less but much more visible on the streets, patrolling by car and foot. Official crime stats show a big improvement.
Christie attracted business to Camden with state-financed tax credits, including the national headquarters of a car company that moved from five miles up the road in another N.J. town. He pushed through a restructuring of the state medical school system which helped Norcross who is the chairman of Cooper Hospital, based in Camden.
In return, Christie got some help in the Legislature to get things through since Norcross has influence in the Assembly and the Senate. Going back a little further, Christie beat an incumbent Democrat in part due to the voter turnout being reduced in Democratic areas and higher in Republican areas. There are those who believe that was no coincidence.
In the end, the people of Camden feel safer, Norcross gets more to boast about and his influence grows, and Christie can travel around talking about he can work with the other side.
All of which is not to say that police departments around the country can’t learn something from Camden’s story.
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