This has absolutely nothing to do with with smaller government. It's all about making the very worst out of a bad situation. If the city government was concerned about public health and safety the police would be the last to go. What they're doing is grandstanding, making the situation as bad as it can be so the state will be forced to cover the shortfall. The one thing that won't ever be considered is finding a way to provide basic necessity's with the available money.
The same scenario will be played out again and again as more city's find they unable to meet their commitments. The fundamental problem most of them are running into is retirement benefits. They've been handing out sweetheart deals for a lot of years, now they find they can't afford to pay an entire workforce to stay home for twenty or thirty years. Big surprise. A small city near me went through this a couple years back. 85% of the city's revenue was being paid out in retirement benefits, the situation was unsustainable and the city declared bankruptcy. I expect this is going to happen again and again across the country, and I also expect that no long term solution will developed, other than tax increases.
You are making facts up to fit an accusation you are making up. We see this way too much.
The numbers do not support your attack.
Now, I'm one who has said that the nature of power means that 'the people' will get their interests cut before those in power.
All the right-wing ranting and raving about the need to cut this and that 'waste' tends to do little more than cut the BEST spending, leaving the worst in place.
But 'starve the beast' doesn't cut the good spending just for that reason - it forces good spending cuts.
I haven't seen any numbers suggesting Camden is doing anything like you suggest, cutting the police 'first' for political effect.
Rather, it appears you are just being an apologist for the bad policy, blaming the people who are suffering the effects of far larger policies forcing cuts.
Don't pay attention to the corrupt most wealth in the nation and their policies shifting wealth to the top - instead, make up attacks against the city, and make up the facts!
That's not the way to discuss the issue, but it's common.
We will see a lot more of this - but because of the larger problems, not because of cities 'cutting cops first for effect'. But keep on blaming the cities fiddling, while they burn.