More than 160 police officers were laid off in Camden Jan. 18 because of a $26.5 million budget deficit. Nearly half the force - those with less than 13 years of experience - was fired. Superior officers were demoted to replenish patrols.
"We see less cops now," said Sylvia Lopez, 28, a recent Kaplan University graduate in business administration, who lived near downtown until she moved to the Centerville section recently. "Stuff was getting bad, a lot of drugs and prostitution."
Centerville resident Kahna Harris, 23, is studying to be a certified nursing assistant, and she said crime was getting worse, pointing to a weekend shooting that killed one person and injured two others at Royden and Sixth Streets.
"Even though there were shootings before the cops got laid off, it wasn't as bad as it is now," Harris said.
But Osvaldo Fernandez, general manager of Broadway Market in the Waterfront South neighborhood, said he had seen more officers during the day.
"I feel protected," Fernandez said. "They're around all day long. Before they would drive by, but they wouldn't stay out here like they are now."
Garrity, who has been in law enforcement for 25 years, said he found the recent spike in crime particularly disturbing. Typically, crime slows in the winter.
"It's alarming that it came in such a condensed time period when we usually see dips in crime. This bucks the trend," Garrity said.
Aggravated assaults with firearms increased from 22 in January and February 2010 to 79 this year. Murder and robbery were down; rape was up slightly.
Additionally, nonviolent crime increased 14 percent, with burglaries up 60 percent, from 130 reported last year compared with 208 this year.
