Camden Very Slowly Catching Up To Philadelphia

In recent months, much attention has been lavished on Philadelphia’s fine neighbor to the east, Camden. 20/20 profiled the city in an unflattering light, there was a brawl at Camden High School and the city still ranks among the nation’s most dangerous.

And, yet, Thursday, March 8, was the date of Camden’s first homicide of the year. (It was, naturally, a double.) Philadelphia has (at least) 71 at this point.

The two men killed were originally thought to have died in a car accident, until investigators realized both men had been shot and killed before the car crashed. The 67-day homicide-free streak to start the year was the longest since at least 1980.

So what’s the deal? Camden is much smaller than Philly, but that disparity is pretty large. Maybe Philadelphia has better marksmen. Or maybe even Camden knows how to stop homicides while on this side of the river everyone twiddles their thumbs and waits for the new mayor to be elected.

Camden has first 2 homicides of year [Camden Courier-Post]
Waiting on the World to Change [ABCNews.com]