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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
From 'Warrior1' to 'Guardian,' a New Police Force Is Built in New Jersey2
During several weeks of protests over police killings3 and abuse of black Americans, many police forces have clashed with activists5. But in Camden, New Jersey, a poor city of mostly brown and black people, police and activists marched together.
"Our actions can accelerate situations. What we should be trying to do is de-escalate them," said Scott Thomson, who retired6 from the Camden County Police Department in 2019. "The last thing we want is for the temperature to rise, and for situations to go from bad to worse because of our failed tactics."
Thomson led an effort in 2013 to form a new police department to guard Camden after state and local officials disbanded the city's force.
At the time, the city had experienced one of the highest crime rates in America. It also saw years of law enforcement abuses and corruption8.
Thomson believed that the public and officers themselves, saw the police as warriors9. He sought a police department of officers who identify as guardians10 first.
More than 300 officers lost their jobs when the city dismissed the force. About half of them were rehired to serve in the new police department. The reform also brought on younger officers, often from outside of Camden. Other changes included increased community policing and expansion of high-tech11 city-wide observation systems.
Many consider the Camden police reform effort a major success. Still, it might not be the changes protesters seek.
"That is a very different vision of what a new police force looks like than we're hearing from protesters, who want less policing," said Stephen Danley, a professor of public policy at Rutgers University-Camden.
Ashly Estevez-Perez has spent most of her 21 years in Camden. She remembers when children were rarely permitted to leave their homes because gunfire was so common.
"The new police force came in, and you saw cars everywhere. ... Everyone was kind of taken aback," she said of what some would call "over-policing."
"Growing up in the city, I don't see what other alternative works," said Estevez-Perez.
Sean Brown is an activist4, businessman and father of two in Camden. He says the city's surveillance system solves the wrong problem.
"If we had economic justice in our community, where anybody who needed a job could get a job, we would be in a different space," said the 37-year-old.
Dekel Levy12 is an officer in the Camden County Police Department. He praised the seven-year-old force.
"I think we're received a lot better than we used to be," he said. The 41-year-old spoke13 as he helped give out baby care products to parents at Guadalupe Family Services in North Camden.
The neighborhood, long one of the city's poorest and most dangerous, shows signs of progress. The state prison that stood on the nearby waterfront has been replaced with a park. Aging schools have been fixed14 up.
Crime rates have fallen in Camden.
Police department data shows the yearly murder rate dropped from 67 in 2012 to 25 last year. Robberies also went down in the same period from 755 to 304. And attacks with guns decreased from 381 to 250. The city of about 73,000 people spends $68 million per year on policing, far more than some comparable cities.
Professor Danley agrees that Camden is safer than it once was. But he said it is not clear that the new force is directly responsible for that.
During Camden's Black Lives Matter protest, Police Chief Joe Wysocki helped carry the large sign at the front of the march.
"I just felt I had to do it. George Floyd's death was very difficult to watch, and it was horrifying15 what he went through," Wysocki said.
Helen Cole, a Roman Catholic nun16, runs the Guadalupe Family Services group. She has lived in Camden almost 30 years and has seen tensions rise and riots break out.
Today, she cheers officers who work with troubled teens and department data that shows a sharp drop in reports of police abuses. In 2014 there were sixty-five cases. Last year there were three.
"It's not like officers are the enemy anymore," Cole said.
Still, Sean Brown says too few in the city of Camden find employment on the police force.
He says "the same political will" that went to tearing down and rebuilding the police department is needed to deal with other issues, like job development and housing.
Brown added, "The momentum17 has to continue for us to get where we need to go."
Words in This Story
accelerate - v. to cause to move faster or speed up
de-escalate - v. to decrease the size, scope, or intensity19 of something
tactic7 - n. an action or method that is planned and used to achieve a particular goal
alternative - n. something that can be chosen instead of something else: a choice or option
surveillance - n. the act of carefully watching someone or something especially in order to prevent or detect a crime
momentum - n. the strength or force that allows something to continue or to grow stronger or faster as time passes
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1
warrior
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| n.勇士，武士，斗士 | |
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jersey
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| n.运动衫 | |
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killings
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| 谋杀( killing的名词复数 )； 突然发大财，暴发 | |
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activist
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| n.活动分子，积极分子 | |
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activists
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| n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 ) | |
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retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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tactic
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| n.战略，策略；adj.战术的，有策略的 | |
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corruption
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| n.腐败，堕落，贪污 | |
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warriors
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| 武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
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guardians
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| 监护人( guardian的名词复数 )； 保护者，维护者 | |
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high-tech
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| adj.高科技的 | |
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levy
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| n.征收税或其他款项，征收额 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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horrifying
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| a.令人震惊的，使人毛骨悚然的 | |
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nun
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| n.修女，尼姑 | |
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momentum
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| n.动力，冲力，势头；动量 | |
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weaver
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| n.织布工；编织者 | |
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intensity
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| n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度 | |
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