Camden, New Jersey is 2Nd Dangerous City in United States!

(Photo courtesy of Google)

Camden, New Jersey is in for quite a shock; city officials have given the okay to get rid of half of the city’s unionized employees, which includes police officers. The cuts are devastating for any city, especially in today’s economy, but Camden is rated the second most dangerous city in the United States.

Camden, New Jersey is located across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the 2000 Census showed that Camden had a population close to 80,000 people. Camden was known for its manufacturing and industry, but is declining in its urban development.  2 out of every 5 residents fall below the poverty line. 

In 2009, Camden had 2,333 violent crimes per 100,000 people (Most violent city in 2009); the national average was 455 violent crimes per 100,000 people.

According to the Courier-Post, Camden has a budget deficit of $26.5 million.  In order to deal with this large debt, the city has decided to lay off 383 employees.  The city will not be doing the cuts until January 18th, but the whole city is definitely on edge.  There are going to be talks between the union and the state, but everything is up in the air for now.

I feel that there will be more crime as a result of this horrific news.  People are already struggling trying to make ends meet, so this dire news will just be compounded ten times over.  People are forced to do more with less, but the quality of service gets diminished as well as the morale of working people.

I do not know what the solution is to tackle this problem; just seems to be happening all over the world as well. We are just living in very tough times.  Things have not been this bad since the Great Depression. People have been losing their homes left and right due to the faltering economy.

Sources

 Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camden,_New_Jersey

 USA Today: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2010/12/dangerous-camden-could-lose-half-its-cops/1