The mayor of Camden announced Thursday that the nation's most impoverished and dangerous city will be rehiring police and firefighters.
Mayor Dana Redd said that Camden’s diminished police force will be reinforced with 50 more police officers, and the city fire department will get 15 more firefighters.
Redd announced Thursday that she'll use $2.5 million paid to the city by the South Jersey Port Corp, plus federal grants, to bring back the officers through the summer.
Earlier this year, Camden laid off nearly half its police force and about one-third of its firefighters.
Shrinking tax revenues and state aid were devastating blows to the city that ranks as one of the poorest and most crime-ridden in the country.
The Camden County Prosecutor's Office said crimes in several categories were up in the first two months of the year. The city has less ability to solve them because detectives were shifted to street patrols.
