During the summer of 2020 and beyond – following the murder of George Floyd, the protests and racial reckoning on issues of policing and accountability, and the unanimous decision of the Minneapolis city council to abolish its current police department and start anew – Camden, New Jersey emerged as a potential model for reform in both the national and international discourse. Camden not only managed to keep demonstrations peaceful unlike more than 200 other cities, but it too had dissolved their old police department and rebuilt from the ground up seven years prior in 2013. Chasing Change in Camden presents an exhaustive, in-depth case study into Camden, New Jersey’s police reform efforts that explores the substantive changes made to organizational performance and public safety as well as the initial and ongoing struggles of the Camden County Police Department.
An in-depth examination of the Camden County Police Department’s reform efforts
In the 1990s and 2000s, Camden, NJ, across the river from Philadelphia, was perennially designated one of America’s most dangerous cities. The functionally bankrupt city dissolved the Camden Police Department (CPD) and created the Camden County Police Department (CCPD) in 2013, refocusing its priorities and officer performance standards to engage with the community and build trust. The change was significant, with notable drops in violent crime and murder. However, concerns about the use of force and other aggressive practices continued.
In Chasing Change in Camden, John Shjarback investigates how Camden’s police department re-formed and questions whether it can serve as a model for other cities. He analyzes successful policies—from innovative police training to advancements in technology—and evidence-based policing strategies.
Shjarback explains how the changes were implemented and then adjusted in response to community backlash. Chasing Change in Camden concludes with a discussion of threats to the reform and accountability efforts in both the CCPD and American policing more broadly. Ultimately, Camden’s case study offers valuable lessons for cities seeking effective police reform.
“[A] comprehensive and insightful account of the events that unfolded.... This book provides a thorough analysis of Camden’s history, the challenges we faced, and the innovative solutions we implemented to address them. Dr. Shjarback skillfully synthesizes complex information and conveys it with a rare clarity. His grasp of twenty-first-century policing and public safety is exceptional.”—From the Foreword by J. Scott Thomson
“I had the opportunity to witness the transformation of Camden firsthand. I served as the Police Commissioner in Philadelphia during the time J. Scott Thomson served as Chief of the Camden Police Department. Chasing Change in Camden captures the essence of Camden’s evolution from a city with a negative reputation for crime to one that caught the attention of the President of the United States as a model for what is possible.”—Charles H Ramsey, Philadelphia Police Commissioner (ret), and Chief, Metropolitan Police Department Washington DC (ret)
“A detailed account of a dramatic transformation of what seemed to be a hopeless institution. The story of ‘Hippocratic’ Policing that Chief Thomson built in Camden is essential for all those who would protect democracy under the rule of law.”—Lawrence W. Sherman, Wolfson Professor of Criminology Emeritus at the Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge, and CEO of Benchmark Cambridge, a global police reform company
Available for order/pre-order from Temple University Press here or from Amazon here.