CAMDEN BECOMES LITTLE SISTER CITY OF JUAREZ

Poverty stricken New Jersey city had 2011 murder rate 10 times that of New York City and is on pace to be even higher this year

Whereas Juarez, Mexico is the murder capital of the world, the once prospering city of Camden is fast becoming the murder capital of the United States.

THE MOST DANGEROUS CITY IN AMERICA: INSIDE CAMDEN, NEW JERSEY WHERE 39 PEOPLE HAVE BEEN MURDERED DURING THE FIRST SEVEN MONTHS OF THIS YEAR
Police department forced to cut one-third of officers in 2011 and arrests dropped to less than half of what they were in 2009

By Louise Boyle and Michael Zennie

Mail Online
August 7, 2012

Camden, New Jersey, has long been one of the most dangerous places in America, but recent police cuts combined with the highest unemployment rate in New Jersey have made the city even deadlier.

This year there have been 39 murders in the city of 77,000 -- on pace to break the all-time record set in 1995.

In 2011, the murder rate was ten times than that of New York City and 30 percent higher than New Orleans, Louisiana, the most dangerous large city in the nation.

Camden was once a bustling industrial town but drugs and alcohol abuse now run rife in an area that is economically deprived. More than half of all children live below the poverty line.

The city finds itself in the midst of a drug war as unemployed young men with nothing to lose battle for territory across the city.

Large gang networks are competing with local drug deals and the results of always violent.

Last month, 27-year-old Robert Carstarphen was shot dead in an alley during a fight over drug dealing territory between members of the Bloods street gang. The following day, two more men were dead after a retaliation hit.

The deaths brought the total number of homicides for July to 13 - making the month the city's worst since September 1949 when mass murderer Howard Unruh left the same number dead in a shooting spree.

Last year, there were 50 murders in Camden, eight short of the record of 58 homicides in 1995. Most of the murder victims this year were male, with the youngest a 16-year-old boy and the eldest a 42-year-old woman.

The murder rate has been spurred on by massive cuts to a police force that had already been dogged by corruption and too few resources.

Thanks to massive state budget cuts to poor cities like Camden, Newark and Trenton, the Camden Police Department was forced to fire 168 officers in 2011 -- more than one third of its police force.

'Many organizations had layoffs. In one day, we had a decimation,' Police Chief Scott Thomson told the Newark Star-Ledger.

As a result, arrests fell to less than half what they were in 2009 -- when the city looked like it was bringing the crime epidemic under control.

According to the AroundPhilly blog on Yahoo, one resident said: 'We don't have any real policing in Camden. They're just out here to pick up the bodies.'

Camden was once a major hub of manufacturing, with large plants from General Electric and RCA employing tens of thousands of workers.

As those factories left, nothing replaced them and the city fell into ruin.

In the last decade, crack houses have sprung up amid the boarded-up factories and burned out houses. People live in fear of being robbed or shot as addicts roam the streets looking to fund their habit.

Most of the killings were gang members involved in drugs although there were innocent victims including a 39-year-old father of six who attempted to break up a fight.

In the 39 murder cases, charges had been filed in 17, according to police. There were 103 shootings in total from January to July this year.

Camden has long been the poorest city in New Jersey, but the recession has made things worse -- and the situation is not improving.

The unemployment rate was less than 9 percent in 2007. In may, it stood at 18 percent, leaving thousands of young men out of work and with few alternatives.

Members of the local clergy have been taking part in anti-violence walks on the streets to try to build relationships and ease tension among the disenfranchised and the vulnerable.

Young people were becoming swept up in the booming drug trade after being targeted by dealers as they face lighter sentences if caught.

Revered Heyward Wiggins III of Camden Bible Tabernacle told Philly.com: 'Right now, we are going to funerals of a lot of victims of the violence in the city, but we would love to bring about an atmosphere where we don't have to attend funerals.'