Camden, one of the most crime-ridden cities in the United States, is using technology as a means of cleaning up the streets.

Ronica Cleary of Chasing New Jersey took a took a tour with Camden’s police force to see exactly how they fight crime—especially after more than 270 officer layoffs early this year.

I went on a chase to see if these modern crime-fighting techniques are actually working,” said Cleary.

What she found was surprisingly high-tech methods of patrolling the crime-plagued streets.

A 40-foot booth called Sky Patrol raises three stories into the sky gives them a bird’s eye view of what’s happening below using video and infrared technology. Each booth costs $135,000—roughly the equivalent of three first-year officer salaries, according to Camden County’s police department salary schedule.

There is also the Real Time Tactical Operation Intelligence Center, which allows police officers to virtually monitor the streets using 120 cameras placed throughout the city. Special microphones called “shot spotters” cover one-third of Camden. With these microphones, they are able to immediately hear and respond when a shot is fired.

Whether or not the influx of new technology is worth the layoffs of hundreds of police officers is up for debate. NeighborhoodScout.com lists Camden with a safety index of 1 out of 100 (100 being the safest.) It writes, “With a crime rate of 87 per one thousand residents, Camden has one of the highest crime rates in America compared to all communities of all sizes – from the smallest towns to the very largest cities. One’s chance of becoming a victim of either violent or property crime here is one in 11.”

According to Chasing New Jersey, Mark Saunders, a retired Camden Police Detective, believes it’s impossible to have a safer police department with less police officers, no overtime and more supervisors.

I think this tour was put on by a department that’s had a lot of layoff in the past few years and they want to put good PR out there for themselves so they can say, ‘Oh we have all this technology, so all the layoffs were justified,’” said Chasing New Jersey’s Kate Mosso.

Cleary admitted that, even after having seen the way technology is changing the methods in which police officers fight crime, she still wouldn’t feel safe.

Camden is still friendlier than this New Jersey city.