New Police Force Hitting Camden Streets

The Camden police force has ceased to exist.A new county-run police force becomes fully operational in New Jersey's most impoverished city on Wednesday. It's designed to get more officers on the street for a similar cost.

The changeover will be formally marked at a Wednesday afternoon ceremony in Camden in which Gov. Chris Christie is slated to attend.

The City Council approved a series of resolutions on Wednesday to make the new force the one responsible for crime-fighting in a city that ranks among the nation's most violent.

Police union officials in Camden fought the takeover and some opposition political candidates voiced concern that it's another way the city government is losing control of basic governmental functions.

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