In recent years the city of Camden, which has long grappled with high poverty and crime rates, has become a model for law enforcement agencies nationwide. And, while relations between Camden residents and police remain strained, advocates credit this change to a new police command and community policing model.
The weekly Open Gym program is one example of how police and residents in the city of 71,000 are coming together to promote unity, safety and local partnerships. Camden residents have shown that some are willing to work with police to promote change.
Open Gym, also known as “HoopItUp,” is a Camden County Police Department initiative launched in June 2021 to provide a safe space for youth, with a number of activities and resources made available to them. The initiative is funded in part by the Camden County Youth Services committee.
Open Gym takes place on Fridays from 6:30-9:30 p.m. at different community centers throughout Camden, including the Kroc Center, Heart of Camden Gym, and the Boys and Girls Club in the city’s Parkside section. Parents and local volunteers carpool kids to these sites, knowing they can have fun, be safe and have access to a hot meal.
Members of the Village Initiative play basketball games with the youth, distribute food, and help with event clean-up. Free refreshments are served, and participants can get help with employment, education, mentoring and other local resources.
“We have board games, double dutch and hula hoop competitions, and even yoga,” said Nelson, one of the many community members who volunteer at Open Gym. Volunteers say events serve 60 to upwards of 100 attendees, with a consistency that helps to meet community needs. “Since it’s started, Open Gym has only missed two nights,” said Nelson.
Sometimes the events are so popular that the numbers exceed expectations.
“We had kids pack out the gym during a snowstorm! We had to order more pizza, recalled volunteer Pamela Grayson-Baltimore, a social worker with more than three decades of experience. A lifelong Camden resident, Grayson-Baltimore is also the founder of IDare2Care –a non-profit organization that provides therapeutic services to women and girls.
Affectionately known as “Ms. Pam,” Grayson-Baltimore said the community has not always had positive interactions with law enforcement. “But I believe a drastic change has taken place under this new leadership,” Grayson-Baltimore said.
Currently, the Police Department is headed by police chief, East Camden native Gabriel Rodriguez, who took up the post in December 2020. The city’s current mayor, Victor G. Carstarphen, sworn into office this past January, lists “strengthening community practices” as well as neighborhood beautification and developing better infrastructure and housing options, among his top priorities.
Both leaders seek to further improve community-police relations and the city’s declining crime rate since Camden’s shift from a city to a county-controlled police department in 2013. That year some 5,294 crimes were reported in the city, but recent statistics show a 48% drop in Camden’s crime rate in 2021 by comparison.
“I bring my kids with me when I go,” said volunteer Rosa Arroyo. Arroyo is a Cherry Hill resident and the Youth Services Commission (YSC) Administrator for Camden County. She cited recent youth arrest and court filing statistics from YSC that show a nearly 40% drop in youth arrests since 2016 to 1,056 in 2020. County court filings for serious offenses among youth also fell from 544 to 352 in that same four-year period. Based on this shift, Arroyo has high hopes for Open Gym and local programs aimed at curbing youth detention and fostering connections between law enforcement and community volunteers.
This fledgling partnership arguably reflects the work of the police department to engage the community and regain public trust in recent years.
According to the non-profit think tank–Mapping Police Violence, while Black people represent just 13 percent of the US population, they accounted for 27 percent of those killed by police in 2021. This reality has resulted in disconnect and suspicion of police that often impedes effective policing and crime solving in urban communities.
In June 2020, during a time of great civil unrest, uniformed members of the Police Department marched alongside youth demonstrations in the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hand of police officers in Minneapolis, Minn. The gesture, perceived by some as a photo opp, and regarded by others as an attempt to make peace, is but one moment in a long history of police brutality and deep-seated mistrust of law enforcement, particularly in Black and brown communities.
Several months after the protest, police chief Gabriel Rodriguez announced The Village Initiative-a partnership between city residents and the police department committed to finding ways to build community engagement and safety. His plan for the Initiative is to strengthen police and community relations through grassroots programs and local partnerships. Together, members of the Village Initiative worked at first to enforce the youth curfew, starting in March 2021.
The curfew was implemented on Friday and Saturday nights starting at 6:30 p.m.: youth who had been caught breaking curfew, were apprehended without the use of handcuffs. Instead they were brought to local centers identified by community leaders and the police department as safe locations and greeted by volunteers and officers who would engage them in board games and group activities until their guardians had arrived. By June 2021, the curfew program had evolved into the Open Gym.
“Every interaction does not have to be negative. I’m hoping that this inspires them to grow up and join law enforcement one day,” said Captain Vivian Coley, who oversees the Open Gym program. This vision reflects Coley’s own story as a child born and raised in Camden who began her career in law enforcement as a dispatcher over 25 years ago. “I want them to have positive things to draw on when thinking about the police,” said Coley.
Despite policing challenges in Camden, advocates say Open Gym is a step in the right direction. Powered by a collection of community leaders working in tandem with the local police department, Open Gym has become the blueprint for other urban cities looking to improve civilian-police relations. For example, Philadelphia and Paterson, NJ, have recently announced similar programs.
“Through commitment and consistency, these officers have shown that they are invested in the community,” said Arroyo. “When a community and police department relies on trust and communication to steer their relationship, they can accomplish great things.”
