The Camden County Police Department (CCPD) is a county police department providing law enforcement services to the city of Camden, Camden County, New Jersey, formed in 2013. It is the successor to the Camden Police Department.
Then-chief Scott Thomson used the disbanding and replacement to transform the department's policies. Camden's new department has been called "a model" of how to reform police departments. It is sometimes referred to as the Metro Division even though, unlike many other metropolitan police forces in the United States, it presently does not patrol outside of the city. As a "county police" force, the department is available to all municipalities in Camden County on a voluntary basis; however, no other municipalities within Camden County have announced plans to join the county police district.
Journalist Ryan Cooper described Camden's County Police as an example of community policing following the example of Nordic countries.
Background
In January of 2011, the city department laid off 168 of the department's 370 officers when contract negotiations stalled and the city was facing a budget shortfall. Camden experienced a spike in homicides, and the city police department wanted to hire more patrol officers but couldn't afford to "partly because of generous union contracts." According to CNN the corruption had also "rendered the existing agency unfixable." On August 2, 2011, the City of Camden and Camden County announced that the city police department would be disbanded in favor of a new county police force. Well-known law enforcement executive John Timoney was retained to develop an organizational and functional plan for the department.
The creation of the county police force in place of the city force was expected to save between $14 and $16 million annually out of the $60 million budget of the city police department. Unlike the city police department it replaced, the new "county" department was not initially unionized. Savings were expected to come from reducing the fringe benefits that had been required under the city's union contract.
The move was endorsed by the Mayor of Camden, Dana Redd, who indicated that the new police department would be more cost-effective, and that the high absentee rate of city officers had affected the former department's ability to keep the city safe. An official of the Camden Fraternal Order of Police, which represented city police officers, described the plan as "union busting" and called it "a recipe for disaster" that would replace experienced city officers with new personnel unfamiliar with the city. A community group known as the Citizens' Community Committee for Public Safety, along with the Camden Fraternal Order of Police, criticized the plan as being political, not practical. The mayor's political opponents also criticized the disbandment of the city's department.
Establishment of county department
In 2012, the entire city police department was laid off and required to apply for a position with the new county police department. The application process included a 50-page form, psychological testing, and an interview process. Many employees were angry. Then-chief Scott Thomson saw it as a way to "hit the reset button" and completely change how policing worked in Camden; he characterized the city force at the time as "apathetic, lethargic and corrupt". He envisioned transforming how Camden officers saw themselves from "Warrior" to "Guardian."
The new department took over primary responsibility for policing the City of Camden on May 1, 2013. 155 officers reapplied and were hired for the new department, while 65 officers refused to reapply. The new department reached its full complement of 401 sworn officers on June 7, 2013, when 92 recruits were commissioned. The new force doubled the size of the previous city force.
Thomson announced that officers would no longer be judged on how many tickets they wrote or arrests they made but on relationships they developed in the community and whether citizens felt safe enough to sit on their front steps or allow their children to ride their bikes in the street. Thomson told the New York Times in 2017 that "aggressive ticket writing" was a sign that officers weren't understanding the new department, saying "handing a $250 ticket to someone who is making $13,000 a year can be life altering." On new recruits' first day, they knock on doors in the neighborhood they're assigned to and introduce themselves.