By: Follow South Jersey Staff
CAMDEN, N.J. — Crime in the City of Camden continues to decline according to recent statistics.
Through the first six months of 2025, total crime is down 13% and violent crime declined by another 12% over same time last year. At this point in the year, homicides are down another 30% from this time last year and aggravated assault with a firearm are down 31%, according to a press release from the county.
The press release stated that this is “the lowest number of violent crimes recorded in the first six months of 2025, at 445, making this one of the best statistical half year totals in the last 50 years. Looking back to the last year of operation of the Camden City Police Department in 2012, 999 total violent crimes were recorded, creating a 55% drop in violent crime over the last 13 years.”
Director of the Camden County Board of Commissioners, Louis Cappelli Jr., said in the press release that the progress the city has made and how the police department’s transformative community policing initiatives are the catalyst to much of this positive change.
“I think it’s important to point out this data for the first six months of the year because it points to an ongoing trend of a safer, stronger city,” Cappelli said. “Many other places are struggling to get a handle on violent crime while we continue to see tangible results here in Camden City, which is an incredible thing to watch unfold. I want to thank the men and women in uniform and the community for being the biggest drivers of this reduction in crime throughout the city and region.”
Camden County Police Chief Chief Gabriel Rodriguez mentioned the importance of policing through prioritizing the community and residents.
“For our agency, we need to continue to evolve and grow every day with our community, but once again the officers of this agency did incredible work to better the lives of those who call this city home,” Rodriguez said. “I believe these numbers are a direct reflection of the bridges we continue to build with the residents and our stakeholders to make Camden a stronger city. Furthermore, I believe we have embarked on a path with the youth of the city to not only get them off the street with the Village Initiative, but to engage an organization, like Hopeworks, that will actively give them workforce development training and place them into full time jobs.”
This is the fifth year of the Village Initiative which hosts several events throughout the city on a regular basis including open gym, senior bingo, Bookmates, block-party BBQs and movie nights and much more. The department has also engaged in several new initiatives including a dodgeball and flag football program, providing outreach for senior citizens in need and hosting several neighborhood cleanups and community events.
The department also continues to work with community partners that include the Salvation Army, the Cooper Foundation, the Boys and Girls Club of Camden County and the Sixers Youth Foundation, to host and fund programs that are outside of the main operating budget. These corporate and nonprofit partners are allowing the agency to provide safe spaces and funding to provide a third place for youth and young adults to have positive interactions with officers outside of school and home.
Camden City Mayor Victor Carstarphen said that the overall improvements to the city that the department has made for the public.
“Safety is the foundation for the tremendous progress taking place across Camden,” Carstarphen said. “It’s what allows families to thrive, businesses to invest, and children to play outside without fear. There is a lot to celebrate from a crime reduction perspective, and it’s also important to recognize the programs like open gym that create safe havens every week for our kids or the Hopeworks truancy program that gets our youth off the street and provides them with a skillset for a job. Under the leadership of Chief Gabriel Rodriguez our neighborhoods have changed for the better and are safer than they have been in decades.”
Total crime has been dropping in Camden City since it started to be recorded in 1974. The first recorded year had the city at 10,724 crime victims spiking to a high of 14,685 in 1991 and dropping to 3,212 crime victims last year in 2024.
“Clearly, all the key indicators and statistics are down and continue to go down even further,” Camden City Council President Angel Fuentes said. “We are realizing progress in the form of safer streets, in addition to safer parks and tremendous open spaces that are used and loved by the entire community. Together, as a community, we are building a safer city and a better Camden.”
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