The Guardian Angels agree to police Camden's streets after police layoffs. Will it be enough? by Bill Gee
(centrist)
Thursday, January 20, 2011
On Tuesday, January 18th, roughly 200 police and firefighters in America's second most dangerous city lost their jobs due to a lack of state funding. Prior to the layoff, Curtis Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels, pledged to send 40 of its members to supplement the depleted police force while working to recruit local residents to join its ranks. They began their patrols on Sunday, two days prior to the planned layoffs. Their patrols consist of three unarmed volunteers dressed in red jackets and bright red berets. They will run their patrols from 11am to midnight.
Officially, Camden Police Chief, Scott Thomson has not publicly welcomed the Mr. Sliwa and his volunteer vigilantes, but privately the police have been grateful for the help. The question remains as to whether small groups of unarmed volunteers can make any difference to a war-zone like Camden.
While the view from the street seems to be supportive of the volunteers, skepticism runs rampant on the comment boards from residents, but police officers who are familiar with Camden's streets cannot seem to say enough good things about them.
"Bad move...." says user ropter on the NJ.com news board, "Curtis and his band of so called angels will become a bunch of sissy angels in about one week of trying to keep order in Camden."
Indeed, the Angels were widely criticized after supposedly "abandoning" the city of Newark, NJ following a police layoff there in the fall of 2010. "The Angels came to Newark for a hot minute when the police laid off 167," says user Godshelper, "That night an Angel was held up at gun point in the south of Newark, they left and haven't been seen or heard from them since."
User wereallblue believes that "the guardian angels are just fine for borderline neighborhoods that have criminal incursions from neighboring towns. In a war zone like Camden, we will be reading about Guardian Angels being shot, stabbed and beaten. Despite having a publicity hound for a leader, their hearts are in the right place, this is just too much a case of bring your fists to a gun fight."
Meanwhile, the reaction among police officers seems to be largely supportive because "you can't have too many good guys", says user tmhunt. User Jimcuffs goes on by saying "As an old time Combatives instructor, I have taught the Angels combatives. I have found them to be a great resource on the streets. They do what they do so they can clean up their neighborhoods." He goes on to say that the Angels "have your back" and also describes them as a "professional group".
At this point, criminals have not yet decided to attack Angel patrols with high-capacity firearms, while it is well-known that the gangs have them at their disposal. It could be that the gangs do not see the unarmed volunteers as a threat to their activities. After all, it is foolish to think that crime "goes to bed" between the hours of midnight and 11am. In addition, January in New Jersey is very cold, and so it is logical to assume that most of the crime is taking place indoors in one of Camden's hundreds of abandoned houses or in the hallways of apartment buildings built during the Johnson Administration. Perhaps the true test of the Angel's effectiveness will occur in the dog-days of July and August when Camden's murder rate is at its highest.
So far, no Angels have been shot but it is way too soon to tell if they are having any impact on crime. Some worry that after the gangs come out from their winter slumber, those red berets will look like a walking "bull's-eye". So what happens if Camden's gangs decide to assert their authority over the volunteers? How many wounded or dead Angels would it take before Mr. Sliwa decides that Camden is too dangerous to patrol without an armed escort? What options are left that will prevent Camden from further degeneration into a city that is a safe haven for criminals, but also a safe haven for possible terrorists?
Some have speculated that if the local police and the state police cannot control crime in the city, that perhaps we should consider a military option. In my next column, we will explore what an option like that might look like and the possible consequences such an action would have.
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