Camden Hosts Several 'Anti-mischief Night' Activities
By Dan Wing
CAMDEN, N.J., (CBS) -- Thursday marked 23 years since the infamous 'Mischief Night' arson fires in the city of Camden. Nearly 170 fires were reported in the city that night, leaving more than 50 buildings damaged or destroyed.
In the following years, the community and government made efforts to put an end to the traditions of violence and fires in the city on Mischief Night. That effort continued this year as Mayor Dana Redd teamed up with Camden County Police for what was called "Blue Knight."
Mayor Redd joined with Deputy Chief Joseph Williams and a few officers at Sheila Roberts Park, where they were dubbing young men and women from the neighborhood "Blue Knights." It's something that the Mayor feels helps create a bond between the community and police.
"We see a lot of positive interaction happening between our children and our officers, which is good, because our children our looking at our officers as role models," Mayor Redd said.
The "Blue Knights" then help set an example in their neighborhood. The same was happening at parks throughout the city, as residents and city officials work to erase the troubling history of Mischief Night in Camden. Residents are also fighting back. Lisa Roberts Amegatcher has led a town watch walks on Mischief Night for the past 15 years.
"We just tour the neighborhoods just to let the drug dealers know, to let the people that want to do crime know, that we're out here and that we're standing up and sticking up for our community," Roberts Amegatcher said.
The city has seen a major decrease in incidents on Mischief night in recent years.
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