The Radical’s Blog: A Voice for the Voiceless

Edmund Burke once said all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.  Anyone who has been following me for the past year knows I am not the type to do nothing when I see wrongdoing.  After my last blog, I received some frightening feedback from those with ties to the Camden Police.  I normally do not write about blog feedback, but in this case I could not sit back and do nothing. 

One would normally think veteran officers who work the streets of Camden would have no problem being vocal.  The reality is – if you believe the stories – they are being mismanaged, intimidated, and punished into silence.  It is so bad I did not hear from any officers directly, but through their wives and families.  I asked these brave women if I could document their stories on the sole condition that I protect their identities and I hide certain details to tie a story to a specific officer.  Everyone I spoke to agreed.

I hear many officers read my previous blog.  I assume just as many will read this one.  Let me be blunt: what is happening to you (or to your brothers in Camden) is a disgrace.  There was not much of an uprising over this before because I do not think people knew just how bad conditions within your department are.  I decided to publish this blog to help spread the word since so many of you have been threatened into silence.  These are direct quotes sent to me Monday, August 20th 2012 edited only for grammar and to hide identifying information.  These are just a sampling. 

“My husband (a detective) worked over 15 days in a row, many of them 12 + hour shifts, many pointless foot patrols around kiddie concerts in 100 degree heat with no breaks because there was ‘nobody’ to relieve him of his post.”

“Everyone knows that if they can push it thru in Camden they will have precedents set for other towns. Do you really think this would be happening first in all white Haddonfield?”

“My husband has been told outright that there will not be a position for him because he has too many years… Any senior officers they do hire ‘for training purposes’ (and to look good for the media) will be let go once the hubbub dies down, as the new force will have little/no labor protections.”

“I assure you those that ‘step out of line’ are ‘punished’. One officer protested not seeing his kids for weeks because of mandatory OT.  He was forced to work every weekend concert that fell on his days off because he spoke up.  He has been silenced as they slapped him with a XX day fine (works without pay for XX days) and when he protested that he was given a longer YY day fine for being disrespectful to superiors.”

“Resumes have already been culled and CPD has a pretty good idea of who is staying/going.  Many wives feel this is a done deal and are waiting for slaughter.”

I believe these stories.  I am not a conspiracy theorist.  For every “theory” I bring up about Gloucester Township or the County, I have shot down a dozen that others have brought up to me.  I know there are many who are new to this blog; for the past year and a half I have been one of the watchdogs within Gloucester Township and have been vocal in trying to right what I see as bad and corrupt practices.  I believe these stories about the Camden PD for the simple reason I have seen the threats and intimidation from the Camden County Democratic Machine myself.  Here are just two of many.

As late as the last Council meeting, GT Solicitor Carlamere set up an ambush of me after I spoke about Red Light Camera timing. This was so well planned, they cut the live feed stream broadcasting the meeting on the internet at the minute he began his verbal assault.  Council President allowed him to rant yet would not allow me to answer. 

While circulating the pay to play reform petition I have had local, county, school, and other public workers (including police officers) tell me they were pulled into a back room and told they would lose their jobs if their name was on it.  All said they could for it in the ballot box.  After we submitted our petition, public workers including State Troopers were harassed for them or their wives signing the petition. 

If this is what they did to me and their own party members and employees, I can only guess what else they are doing to the good men and women of the Camden Police that we are not hearing about.  If you ever doubted the intent of the County and Camden City leadership consider this: at the , multiple Camden Police Internal Affairs officers were there videotaping the crowd.  Having known IA officers in their city issued cars openly videotaping protesters is a form of intimidation.  The Save Camden Police Facebook page is reporting officers were ordered to not be a part of any demonstration or protest.  How can any Democrat call them self a “progressive” and be a part of intimidation and denying the heroes that are our police officers their first amendment rights?

To the brave officers of the Camden PD and others throughout the county: if you are afraid for your job or of retaliation then please reach out to others like me who will stand with you and will be your voice to let the people know what is happening.  We might not be able to stop this but at least we can let the people know the truth.  Please use the comments section to share your stories.  Let Patch be a means to give a voice to the voiceless.