“A symbol of promise for the nation.”
President Obama during his visit to Camden in 2015 said that the city is a “…symbol of promise for the nation.” He had come to Camden to see for himself just how we were building a safer city through community policing, and how residents and the police were working together to make Camden’s neighborhoods the safest they have been in 50 years.
Of course, we could not have achieved so much progress without Camden County Police Chief Scott Thomson and his inspiring leadership. Today, Chief Thomson announced his plan to retire at the end of August. We will miss him, but we are so grateful to him and his 25 years of service to Camden County.
Learn more about Camden’s journey to creating safer streets in the video below, and also be sure to take a moment to read South Jersey Magazine’s special feature on Camden public safety.
A Force For Change
Against all odds, Camden County police are making the city safe
As published by South Jersey Magazine in June 2019
Six years ago, Camden had the highest crime numbers in the state, a murder rate that rivaled some third world countries, and 175 open-air drug markets. Then, the city fired all its cops.
When Camden County Freeholders proposed dissolving Camden’s 141-year-old police department and replacing it with a county-run force, the move was loudly criticized across the country.
But the Freeholder’s plan had a purpose. For decades, the police department had been plagued by scandal and corruption. At one point, it had five chiefs in five years. And expensive union contracts, officials explained, were making it financially impossible to give Camden what it really needed: more officers on the street.
As the Camden County Metro Police Department (CCPD) was formed in the spring of 2013 – a process that involved both re-hiring some of the laid-off officers and training dozens of new recruits – the community remained skeptical.
“It was a very tense environment,” says Felix Moulier, a Camden native who served on the Public Safety Board during the transition from city to county force.
“There were two sides: one who wanted their local police department and others who wanted change. Change won out, and most people don’t like change at first.”
But the CCPD has proven that, sometimes, a radical solution works. Between 2012 and 2018, Camden’s murder rate fell by nearly 70 percent. Crimes like burglary and arson decreased by more than half. Last year, the city had fewer total crimes than in any year since at least 1974. The number of drug markets has plummeted to below three dozen.