Camden County Police Department To Discuss Major Accomplishments in Camden City
Monday, January 06, 2025
On Tuesday, January 7 at noon at the Camden County Police Department Administration Building, 800 Federal Street, Camden, the Board of Commissioners will join the Camden County Police Department and Mayor Victor Carstarphen to highlight the incredible progress and major accomplishments recently made in Camden City. Year over year data shows significant reductions in homicides (43%), violent crime (17%), and shootings (36%) throughout the city in 2024. This further underscores the progress the city has made since the first full year of operation under the Camden County Police Department in 2014.
Most notably, the city had another historic year when it comes to crime reduction with violent crime falling by almost 20% and overall crime by 8% over last year. Crime has been steadily falling in the city since May 1, 2013, when the Camden County Police Department was first formed, with the crime rate currently sitting at a 55–year low. According to the most recent Uniform Crime Report (UCR,) between January 2012 and November 2024 in Camden:
- Total violent crime is down by 50%.
- Murder is down by 75%.
- Robbery down by 76%.
- Rape is down by 28%
- Non-violent crime down by 46%.
- Burglary is down by 72%.
- Arson is down by 61%.
- Larceny is down 48%.
“Each year, Camden is becoming a safer place to live, work and visit,” said Commissioner Director Louis Cappelli Jr. “The Camden County Police Department, with its focus on community policing, has transformed this city, and the progress we are seeing is better than we could have ever imagined when we first embarked on this venture 12 years ago. I am incredibly proud to see what we have been able to get done this past year and I am nothing but optimistic for the future.”
In addition to a falling crime rate, Camden has seen progress when it comes to education, economic development, infrastructure, housing and more.
According to a recent report from the Progressive Policy Institute, Camden leads the nation in narrowing the achievement gap for students living in poverty. Additionally, new schools are being planned and built across the community with $615 million being invested to build new K-12 schools and rehabilitate existing ones. New “Renaissance Schools” have been built and the state has committed $100 million to construct a new Eastside High School. The city’s graduation rate has jumped from 49% to 70% over the last 12 years, and the number of students taking the SATs doubled, and “college-ready” students leapt from three in 2012 to 400 from the 2024 graduating class.
The city’s workforce is growing, and economic development is plentiful with the job market growing by almost 30% since 2017 to almost 30,000 jobs in 2024. Approximately 1,000 Camden residents have been hired by companies such as Cooper University Health Care, Subaru, American Water, Camden Yards Steel, EMR, Resintech, Connor Strong & Buckelew, NFI, The Michaels Organization, Campbell's Soup Company, the Philadelphia 76ers, L3, Holtec International, Contemporary Graphics, Rutgers University, and Rowan University since 2013. Additionally, more than $6 billion of capital investments has either already been made since 2012 or been announced.
Private companies have invested $1.3 billion in capital to relocate and expand their facilities throughout the city. In addition to companies that have relocated to Camden, Cooper University Health Care has announced a $3 billion expansion of its main campus. This investment also comes with a groundbreaking job training and hiring partnership between Cooper and the building trades with more than 900 qualified city applicants being brought on to build the new campus expansion.
A concerted effort to provide residents with the tools to live healthy and active lives has garnered incredibly positive results. In recent years, over $100 million in park projects have been completed or have broken ground to ensure residents have access to some of the best open spaces in the state. In 2022, the city opened a new crown jewel to its park system – the $45 million Cramer Hill Waterfront Park. The state also turned the former Harrison Avenue landfill into a nature-based oasis in East Camden, and the city and county turned a polluted abandoned site at the former Camden Labs site into a 10-acre field of dreams with an $8 million investment into Whitman Park. Camden County has also invested approximately $20 million into Camden City parks in the last five years.
“Access and opportunity to quality public greenspaces throughout Camden County should be a basic amenity for every family and child in the city,” Commissioner Jeffrey Nash, liaison to the Parks Department said. “These investments have created vital and fruitful gathering hotspots in our community that has given the residents of the city some of the best parks in the state to enjoy.”
The Camden Health and Athletic Association (CHAA), a non-profit organization dedicated to expanding youth sports programs and health initiatives in the City of Camden, has also helped more than 1,000 Camden children take the field, the court, and even the golf course with greater access to team-based activities. Camden has also seen an increase in health among the population as local residents now have expanded access to healthcare due to the fervent effort by institutions such as Cooper University Health Care, Virtua Health System, CAMCare Health Corporation, and Camden Coalition for Health Care Providers. There has been a significant decline in rates of citizens without healthcare access from 21.7% in 2012 to 17.8% in 2024.
Housing has also improved in the city with over $366 million being invested to improve the housing stock in Camden. In 2024, over 1,000 market-rate and affordable homes were being built or rehabilitated across the city, and since 2013, 2,000 abandoned, unsafe, and blighted structures and homes in Camden have been demolished to stabilize neighborhoods and pave the way for the development and rebuilding of Camden’s housing value.
Neglected infrastructure in Camden is finally being addressed thanks to city, county, and state investments. Since Mayor Victor Carstarphen took office in 2021, more than 281 city streets have been reconstructed for an overall investment of about $23 million. More roads have been paved in this four-year period than at any other time since the 1970s. The work has used more than 12,000 tons of asphalt, installed over 4,300 feet of curb, and poured more than 8,000 square yards of concrete. Broken down by year, there were 82 roads repaved in 2021, 104 in 2022, 43 in 2023 and 52 in 2024. Even more roadwork has been accomplished if PSE&G and other state road restorations are factored in.
In 2021, Governor Phil Murphy announced a $250 million investment to rebuild the Walter Rand Transportation Center and turn it into a 21st-century hub for the city and the region. The city will also become the center for the new Camden to Glassboro train line, a $1.8 billion investment in building new public transportation options and opportunities.
Also, for the first time since the 1970s, the city has a balanced budget that has been adopted on schedule pursuant to state statute. In 2021, S&P Global rated Camden's outlook as "positive" based on careful fiscal management and stewardship undertaken by city elected officials, and Camden’s A- rating is the highest in over 50 years, coming from junk bond status just 10 years ago.
“Camden is unrecognizable compared to what it was just 10 years ago,” Commissioner Director Louis Cappelli Jr. said. “This city has come so far and is a beacon of hope when it comes to revitalization and improvement. Camden proudly stands as a role model for other cities that may be struggling, to show that progress is possible when everyone comes together to invest in a better future for their community.”