- Dr. Keith E. Benson is the author of “Education Reform and Gentrification in the Age of #CamdenRising: Public Education and Urban Redevelopment in Camden, NJ” and currently serves as president of the Camden Education Association.
- Camden has recently received attention as an example of a city that disbanded its police force – part of a campaign to rebrand Camden, Benson writes.
- The year the city’s 140-year-old police force was terminated, Camden experienced a record number of homicides.
- Though crime stats have since declined, there are also less people and less affordable housing now – and there’s suspicion among Camden residents that violent crimes are going unreported.
- Camden is still the most dangerous city in New Jersey, and there’s been a spike in abuse-of-power allegations against the new police force.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
The evening of June 7, I received a direct tweet from Michael Leo Owens, professor of political science at Emory University, that read, “So many eyes gonna be looking to Camden for predictions re: Minneapolis.”
I didn’t believe it. I was slightly amused that Camden would ever be suggested as an exemplar of “successful” policing for any city, but especially Minneapolis, where their city council recently passed a bill abolishing their embattled police department following the widely-viewed murder of George Floyd.
Sure enough, Dr. Owens was correct in his prediction; no less than 12 hours after I read his tweet, I saw a slew of media outlets hailing Camden’s County Police (CCPD) as a potential model for urban locales experiencing conflicts between their residents and police.
Yet despite the current wave of media gushing over the newly created CCPD, readers should know this about Camden, where I call home: This is a city where narrative is the king, and details and nuance are its enemies.
As a current Camden educator and resident, there are things I know about my city that outsiders may not – specifically how important narrative is to Camden policy-makers seeking to redevelop and remake Camden. After all, examining the narrative around a Camden Renaissance within a redevelopment and education context was the topic of my doctoral dissertation and recent book, “Education Reform and Gentrification in the Age of #CamdenRising” (2019).
"Camden Rising" is Camden's redevelopment plan created by powerful non-Camden residents aimed at attracting young, white professionals to move here. It shifted governing power over public services - including education, housing, economics, and public safety - from Camden's primarily Black and Latino residents to county and state officials. And the 2013 creation of the CCPD was integral to the "Camden Rising" redevelopment strategy of recasting Camden - long viewed in local and popular media as "dangerous" - as now "safe."
From the years of 2012-2016, powerful Democratic powerbroker George Norcross III and Governor Chris Christie worked in coordination to execute Camden Rising, which was intended to remake Camden's image as a rebounding northeastern post-industrial city. And vital to that change in perception was the defunding and collapsing of Camden's existing police department in order to create the new CCPD.
In 2011, Governor Christie slashed Camden's "Transitional Aid" from $69 million in 2011 to a meager $10 million in 2012, which resulted in cuts to city services and libraries and included laying off firefighters and 167 police officers. And, though labeled the nation's most dangerous city in 2012 by the FBI, Mayor Dana Redd, supported by Governor Christie (who had 2016 presidential aspirations) and the Camden County Democrats, laid off the remaining 270 Camden police officers against residents' wishes.
With that, the city's 140-year-old police force was terminated. And, with a skeleton police crew operating in the city, that year Camden experienced a record number of homicides - a total of 67.
At the conclusion of 2012, the defunct CPD was plagued by rising crime, budget cuts, layoffs, and low morale; in 2013, the new CCPD was approaching fully-staffed status with 411 officers, up from 250, and stocked with the latest crime-fighting technology. Both the updated technology and increased manpower - funded through federal grants and increased county taxpayer dollars - was featured on Vice News and CNN's United Shades of America (2016). Then-CCPD Chief Scott Thompson appeared on national news outlets including Face the Nation touting the department's new technology and community policing strategies that are responsible for reducing crime.
The new force was hailed as a national model of effective policing strategies and leadership; the narrative was cemented by a May 2015 visit by President Barack Obama to Camden to tour the county forces and to highlight Camden's safer streets specifically, and the city's "renaissance" generally.
To varying degrees, that narrative has continued ever since.
It has now been revived with CCPD's recent coverage in national media, including MSNBC, CNN, and the LA Times. With clips of CCPD officers hosting cookouts and eating ice cream with children, it would appear to those unfamiliar that the creation of the CCPD and its community policing model is a success.
But, there's always more to the story.
As many subsequent FBI reports and criminologists note, violent crime has been going down nationally since the 1990s for a variety - or combination - of reasons. And, with the exception of a few outlier years, most recently in 2012, Camden has reverted back its common annual range of between 20-30 homicides per year, even with the fully-staffed CCPD. Today, Camden ranks as the 10th most dangerous city in America, and is still the most dangerous city in New Jersey. While that does constitute statistical progress compared to 2011 and 2012, where Camden was ranked the most dangerous city in America, context matters.
In 2010, Camden had roughly 77,000 residents; today, the number is closer to 70,000. In addition to Camden having less people, there are also less public housing complexes, less affordable housing, and Section 8 offerings within city limits. There is also a widely held suspicion among Camden residents that violent crimes are going unreported in media and re-classified at Department Headquarters as non-violent offenses. This is on top of the spike in abuse-of-power allegations against the CCPD since its inception, and beatings of residents captured on camera, and viewable on YouTube.
Camden's CCPD may seem like a policing success story as reported crime stats decline and CCPD tries to take on a community-based approach to policing; I am conceding that all of that may be true. Cities are free to look at what CCPD is doing that "works'' and determine what is right for their own municipality.
But determining the transferability of CCSD's approach should be done thoughtfully, with skepticism, and with all the facts and context. Because when it comes to Camden reporting and its police narrative, truth - as many residents know - is often a victim. Dr. Keith E. Benson is the author of "Education Reform and Gentrification in the Age of #CamdenRising: Public Education and Urban Redevelopment in Camden, NJ." He taught in Camden city public schools for 14 years and currently serves as president of the Camden Education Association.