TRENTON — Overwhelmed by rising crime and massive police layoffs, the struggling city of Camden pledged Tuesday to be the first municipality to join a new county police force intended to be a model for other cash-strapped New Jersey cities and towns.

The city, which has one of the highest crime rates in the nation, signed an agreement with county and state officials to draft plans for the new Camden County Police Department by Sept. 30. County officials are to coordinate the formation of the department, which will then require approval of the state Department of Community Affairs.

The regional force is likely be the first of its kind in the state. Somerset and Morris Counties are considering similar arrangements.

Still, it is unclear if other Camden County communities will volunteer to sign on to the force — and how much police union officials will protest the inevitable layoffs to result — making its future uncertain.

Supporters of the regional approach to policing say consolidation will take pressure off local budgets by combining administrative and back-office tasks, and at the same time bolster purchasing power to get better prices on equipment.

"Today marks a critically important milestone on the path to making regionalization of police services a reality and innovating the way government works in order to fulfill our number one priority as elected leaders — keeping communities and families safe," Gov. Chris Christie said in a statement.

All of the officers on Camden’s police force, which currently numbers about 275, would be laid off in preparation for the new force, a city spokesman, Robert Corrales, said.

He said the city and county did not need the union’s approval to move forward.

Edward Brannigan president of the state Fraternal Order of Police, was quick to denounce the plan, saying said he feared officers hired by the county would be paid less and receive fewer benefits.

He also said he was concerned that a countywide force would focus more on Camden, where the crime rate is far higher than in the suburbs.

"It’s horrible," Brannigan said. "The whole thing is horrible. This is nothing but union busting."

But a spokeswoman for Camden County, Joyce Gabriel, said officers would be assigned to cities and towns that participate — preventing the force from focusing disproportionately on the city.

Addressing concerns that the suburban communities will end up subsidizing the policing of Camden and other communities with higher crime rates, Gabriel gave assurances that municipalities would only pay for the officers assigned there.

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Under the plan, each municipality that joins the county force would dissolve its department. Because of federal labor law, only 49 percent of the officers in each town could be rehired to join the county force. Who would hire the balance of the officers, however, remain undecided.

Mayor Dana Redd of Camden, who was forced to lay off almost half the city’s 368-member police force in January, said in a statement that she welcomed the "realistic and cost-effective" option of a regional police force. The city issued pink slips to 168 officers earlier this year, but rehired about 75 officers after receiving about $2.5 million from the South Jersey Port Corp., which makes regular payments to Camden in return for the use of tax-free city property.

Corrales said there are currently about 275 officers on the force.

Earlier this year, Christie and Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) expressed their support for a regional force, saying it would take pressure off municipalities facing steep budget cuts.

In addition to Sweeney, several other prominent leaders in the region have come out in favor of a countywide force, including U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews (D-1st Dist) and George Norcross, an insurance executive who is one of the state’s influential Democrats.

The plan was not uniformly embraced by law-enforcement officials, however. The Camden County prosecutor, Warren Faulk, said any efforts to consolidate the police force should focus on putting more police resources into the city.

"The devil is in the details, and we are very interested to learn the details of the county’s plan," Faulk said. "The priority for the city of Camden needs to be putting more officers on the streets, and we would be receptive to any effort that achieves this end."

Wayne Fisher, director of the Rutgers Police Institute, said the plan will live or die depending on how many communities participate, and how the cities and towns balance their services.

"Consolidation of resources for policing in New Jersey is long overdue," Fisher said. "It’s a necessary step given the budgetary difficulty that we’re experiencing at this time."

The agreement will not be official until votes are taken by the Camden City Council on Aug. 9 and the county freeholder board on Aug. 16.



By: Christopher Baxter and Chris Megerian/Statehouse Bureau