Clyburn suggests cities could follow Camden model of police reform: 'They just got rid of a rotten department'

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Rep. Clyburn: We aren't against policing, we're against rotten police officials

South Carolina Democratic Rep. James Clyburn weighs in on police reform following George Floyd's funeral.

House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., told "Your World" Tuesday that while he does not want to see police "defunded," cities that have systemic issues with police departments could follow the example of Camden, N.J.

"[Camden had] a police department that was rotten to the core," Clyburn told host Neil Cavuto. "They didn't defund policing. They defunded the department.

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"The policing was taken over by the county. And the policing was also contracted by private entities. So the policing kept going and it was funded. They just got rid of a rotten department. That's what we need to do when it comes to law enforcement."

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Camden, statistically ranked as one of the most dangerous cities in America during the decade of the 2000s, disbanded its police department in 2013 in favor of the newly formed, non-union Camden County Police Department. At the time, the city's police union blasted the plan as a "form of union-busting."

Bloomberg reported last week that violent crime in the city of approximately 74,000 residents has dropped 42 percent, with the number of murders dropping to 25 in 2019 from 67 in 2012.

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On Tuesday, Clyburn recalled an incident from his youth in which his father, a fundamentalist minister, ordered another minister to be defrocked.

"They got rid of a rotten minister," he said. "The same thing goes here. Nobody is against policing. We are against rotten police officials.

"That's what we need to do here. Keep this in proper perspective. Get rid of the rotten apples. They will ruin the whole barrel if you don't."