Posted on Mon, Nov. 21, 2005
'Most
dangerous' label strikes Camden again
By Sam Wood
Inquirer Staff Writer
The numbers did not work in Camden's favor.
Just as its officials had feared, New Jersey's poorest city has been
designated America's most dangerous city for a second year in a row in
a statistical survey released today.
According to the Kansas-based publisher Morgan Quitno, Camden had the
highest violent crime, homicide and robbery rates among all cities with
populations of 75,000 or more. It is followed on the list by Detroit;
St. Louis; Flint, Mich.; Richmond Va.; and Baltimore. Philadelphia
ranked 33d.
A spike in homicides and aggravated assaults in 2004 contributed to
Camden's No. 1 ranking.
The national homicide rate in 2004 was 5.5 per 100,000. In Camden, the
rate topped out at 60.8 per 100,000 - more than 10 times the national
rate. By comparison, Philadelphia's homicide rate in 2004 was 22.2 per
100,000.
The ranking is controversial, not least of all in Camden, where it has
placed a multimillion-dollar redevelopment effort in jeopardy and
caused enrollment to dip at Rutgers University's Camden campus.
At least this year, the ranking did not come as a complete surprise,
and Camden officials already have launched a counteroffensive, arguing
that the numbers are old and do not reflect the city as it is today.
"I think the city is a little bit better prepared this year," said
Derek Ziegler, executive director for CAMConnect, a nonprofit
organization that analyzes data about Camden. "I've been telling people
since the beginning of the year that this was on its way."
Ziegler ran FBI statistics using Morgan Quitno's methodology and
determined weeks ago that the city would be No. 1.
"I think the numbers are interesting as a conversation starter,"
Ziegler said, "but I don't think it's fair to compare Camden to much
bigger cities like Detroit and Baltimore."
A rally in support of Camden is planned for this morning at Antioch
Baptist Church in South Camden.
Morgan Quitno also released the flip side to the most dangerous ranking
this morning. It named three South Jersey communities among America's
safest cities: Brick Township came in at No. 5, Dover Township at No.
15, and Hamilton Township at No. 18. Upper Darby, at 89th, was the top
Pennsylvania city on the safest list. Newton, Mass., is No. 1.
Scott Morgan, the executive editor of Morgan Quitno, said the company's Web site received more than
a million hits the day the rankings were released last year. After the
announcement was covered by CNN, the BBC and Japanese television, the
Web site was accessed so many times that it caused the server to crash.
Last year's ranking brought some unforeseen benefits to the city. In
the month after the announcement, federal and state law enforcement
officials pledged to devote more resources to Camden.
They made good on some of their promises. A U.S. Marshal's task force
tracked down and captured more than 225 of Camden's most violent
fugitives. Rewards of $1,000 were offered to citizens who tipped
authorities to dangerous felons. The city Police Department underwent a
major reorganization. Law enforcement agencies cooperated across the
city, county, state and federal levels.
And the promises have had results. Overall crime in Camden is down 18
percent to date, Camden County Prosecutor Vincent P. Sarubbi said.
Publisher Morgan chuckled when apprised of his list's unintended
consequences.
"I find it interesting that it took being No. 1 to do that," Morgan
said, noting Camden has consistently
placed in the top 10 every year during the last decade. "It seems as
though it's OK to be fourth or fifth most dangerous, but when you
become No. 1, things suddenly become quite dramatic."
The method Morgan Quito uses to determine the rankings is attacked
regularly by criminologists and sociologists, who criticize the company
for not placing the data in context.
John Allen Paulos, author of
Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences and a
professor of mathematics at Temple, labeled the company's methodology
"incomprehensible."
It "calls for a new category of crime:
statisticide," Paulos said. "I think they should be sentenced to a
course in probability and statistics."
Under its methodology, Morgan Quitno
gives equal weight to six basic crime categories reported by the FBI:
homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary and motor-vehicle
theft.
One city activist said that regardless of the publisher's methods, he
was thankful that the ranking had brought resources to the beleaguered
city.
"Being focused on the exact methodology obscures the fundamental
problems going on in Camden," Jeff Brenner said. "It's a very dangerous
city with enormous public safety problems, and we have a long way to go
to make it a safe place for families, children and businesses to thrive.
"The only way we'll make change in Camden is by bringing a spotlight to
the problem."
ONLINE EXTRA
Read the complete list of most dangerous cities via http://go.philly.com/safecity
Contact staff writer Sam Wood at 856-779-3838 or at
samwood@phillynews.com.
----------
Posted on Fri, Nov. 18, 2005
City
will wage war on crime label
In anticipation it will remain ranked "most dangerous," it plans a
rally Monday and is countering crime statistics.
By Sam Wood
Inquirer Staff Writer
Expecting to be named the "most dangerous city in America" for a second
year in a row, Camden is mounting a campaign to head off the bad
publicity.
CamConnect, a nonprofit group that analyzes and disseminates
information about the city, said yesterday that it had examined
statistics from other cities and determined that Camden would remain
No. 1 based on the methodology used by Morgan Quitno Press.
A rally already is planned for Monday, the day the rankings will be
released, and Rutgers University-Camden is offering experts and
students who can counter the perception that Camden is a dangerous city.
Scott Morgan, publisher of Morgan Quitno's City Crime Rankings, said
yesterday that he would not confirm Camden's position until Monday.
"It's clear that Camden did not have a good year in 2004," he said,
"and the city retains its place with the usual cast of characters:
Baltimore, Richmond, Flint, St. Louis and Detroit."
At the center of Camden's
counteroffensive is the fact that the new rankings are based on 2004
statistics.
They do not take into account an 18 percent decrease in crime through
the first eight months of 2005, Camden County Prosecutor Vincent P.
Sarubbi wrote in a letter to community leaders yesterday, urging them
to attend Monday's "Rally for Camden" at Antioch Baptist Church at
Seventh Street and Ferry Avenue.
He also cited a Police Department reorganization, an "unprecedented
period of revitalization," and a growing number of tourists on the
waterfront as evidence that public safety in Camden was improving.
Last year's ranking by the Kansas publisher cast a pall over
development in the city and caused a dip in enrollment at
Rutgers-Camden.
Among the deals scuttled: the construction of a major hotel near the
campus, Sarubbi said.
"Through its flawed analysis of outdated data, Morgan Quitno has done
considerable financial and psychological harm to a city working hard to
address challenges created over decades," Sarubbi said.
The FBI and several mathematicians and criminologists have taken issue
with Morgan Quitno's methodology, which weighs six types of crime
equally and provides little, if any, context.
"Every year, Morgan Quitno asks for
the data, and we send a letter saying that 'we remind you that the FBI
does not rank or suggest that you use the data to rank,' " said
Maryvictoria Pyne, chief of the FBI's Communications Unit. "They do it
anyway."
Ranking Camden as "America's most dangerous city" does not account for
its status as one of America's poorest cities.
"They're acting as though these
numbers have meaning. They don't," said Jon'a Meyer, professor of
criminal justice at Rutgers. "In a sense, they're saying if you go to a
concert at the Tweeter Center, you're going to get killed. That's just
not true.
"What these numbers are is an index of
crime that can only be used for comparison to other cities with the
same demographics."
Joel Best, author of More Damned Lies and Statistics: How Numbers
Confuse Public Issues, said cities could be ranked according to crime
data, but added, "Do these rankings mean anything?
"Not really."
o the Campus Community:
As current media coverage reports, the City of Camden has been named
the nation's "most dangerous" city for the second year by the
Kansas-based publisher Morgan Quitno.
While statistical surveys and rankings of this nature are highly
subjective, this study is based on Morgan Quitno's calculations using
data reported to the FBI for the calendar year 2004.
The story fails to note that 2005 to date has shown marked improvement
in city safety. The city has made and continues to make
significant strides in its safety efforts. In the first 10 months
of 2005 (January through October), city crime is down 18 percent
compared to the same period in 2004, with homicides down 45
percent. In fact, the numbers are down in virtually every
category.
The Morgan Quitno report is not a ranking of campus safety and does not
reflect the Rutgers environment on campus or in our immediate
neighborhood. During the same period described above, on-campus
incidents at Rutgers-Camden dropped 57 percent in 2005. During the past
year, the Rutgers University Police Department has increased its
visibility, deployed more walking patrols, added security cameras and
emergency phones, and embarked on other new strategies for maintaining
Rutgers-Camden's high level of security.
The safety of our students, as well as our faculty, staff, and guests,
is a top priority. The Rutgers University Police Department has 19
fully commissioned police officers, all licensed by the state.
Our security force also has 45 guards and five community service
officers who are a uniformed presence on campus and have immediate
communications with the RUPD.
While the recent survey reports on overall crime in the city, it does
not provide detail on where the crime is located. Like any urban
environment in America, Camden is a city of neighborhoods, each with
its own distinct characteristics. Rutgers is located in the very
heart of the Camden Waterfront/University District area, which has
welcomed more than three million visitors so far in 2005. These
visitors enjoy such exciting family and cultural attractions as the
Tweeter Center, Campbell's Field, the Adventure Aquarium, the
Battleship New Jersey, and our own Center for the Arts.
One of the most effective ways to reduce crime in an area is to improve
the quality of life for its residents. Rutgers works closely with its
host community on a number of urban improvement initiatives. Recently,
Rutgers partnered with several other Camden organizations to launch the
Camden Special Services District which is patterned after the
Philadelphia's own Center City program. Twenty uniformed workers patrol
the University District and downtown areas on weekdays to maintain
clean streets and sidewalks, greet guests, and serve as vigilant
security observers.
Through our Senator Walter Rand Institute for Public Affairs, Rutgers
has taken a leadership role in implementing the Safer Cities program,
which is working with the city's youth to reduce violent crime. Our
activities through the LEAP charter schools; the literacy program
offered by the Center for Children and Childhood Studies; the economic
development promoted by the Small Business Development Center and the
Rutgers-Camden Business Incubator; the pro bono legal guidance offered
through the School of Law; and so very much more provides the citizens
of Camden with much-needed assistance, while also providing students
with a rich opportunity to test their classroom learning while helping
their community.
According to a 2004 survey of students enrolled on every Rutgers
campus, Camden students feel that the campus is safe, and offer high
marks on their campus experience across the board. We will
continue to work hard in all areas of campus life, including
security. I invite every member of the Rutgers-Camden community
to become involved in this ongoing process through the Campus Safety
Committee. The group advises the RUPD and campus administrators on
security matters, and will next meet Monday, Nov. 28 from 12:10 to 1:10
p.m. in the Executive Meeting Room on the lower level of the Campus
Center, and Wednesday, Nov. 30, from 5 to 6 p.m. in the student
conference room on the third floor of the Campus Center. For more
details, contact Associate Provost Mary Beth Daisey at daisey@camden.rutgers.edu.
Similarly, I encourage you to make use of such campus security
initiatives as the escort service and transportation to off-campus
internships in the city. More information about campus security
is online at www.camden.rutgers.edu/safety.
Thank you for your commitment to Rutgers-Camden. Please accept my
best wishes for a successful remainder of the semester.
Roger Dennis
Provost
------------
Courier Post:
By JASON NARK
Courier-Post Staff
Morgan Quintano
Home Page.
Authorities say several steps have been effective in reducing
Camden's crime rate in 2005.
Crime mapping, for instance, identifies where crimes are taking
place
and allows police to focus resources in that area. And department
leaders now are held accountable for their success or failure in
reacting to mapping data.
Using crime-mapping data, outgoing Camden Police Chief Edwin J.
Figueroa also implemented a 28-day crime suppression plan earlier in
the year that put large numbers of officers in crime-ridden areas.
In January, federal authorities also came to Camden to join the
fray,
and the U.S Marshal's New York/New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force
has since made more than 300 arrests.
In September, Camden police implemented recommendations by a panel
compiled by the Attorney General's office to break the city into four
districts, each under the responsibility of a captain.
However, the police department and the city were hit with a huge
setback in June when the bodies of three missing boys were found in the
trunk of a car. A committee that reviewed a two-day search for the
children found no officer ever looked inside the trunk or the car. It
also said the department had outdated search protocol and poor
communication between patrolmen and superiors.
The families of all three boys have retained the right to file a
lawsuit.
Police union leaders say problems in the department have reached
critical mass. Bill Murray, president of the Camden Police Superiors
Union, said the implementation of the Attorney General's panel is
inflexible, demoralizing, and has caused overtime pay to soar in recent
months. It also phased out the successful 28-day suppression plan the
chief had instituted.
"It's failed from its inception," said Murray. "No one has bought
into it."
Comparing the first month under the geographic command to the same
period last year, police records show that overtime is actually down
but being allocated differently.
Camden County Prosecutor Vincent P. Sarubbi admitted the panel's
plan
may have been implemented too swiftly but felt kinks in the system will
be ironed out with training. Both Sarubbi and Figueroa said overtime
payments were not significant and would be addressed.
"Anytime there is change, there is resistance," said Figueroa.
According to police statistics, major offense incidents rose in the
month of October by 3 percent, the first increase all year.
Sarubbi said that a 6 percent increase in arrests this year has had
ramifications, notably in the county jail population. The jail's
population is about 1,900, which is 700 more than its capacity.
Reach Jason Nark at (856) 486-2473 or jnark@courierpostonline.com
Published: November 21. 2005 3:00AM