New policemen to fill ranks in Camden

By GEORGE MAST
Courier-Post Staff

For the first time in almost four years, the Camden Police Department is hiring officers.

On Thursday, 49 Camden police recruits began their 20 weeks of physical and mental training required to be on the force. At the same time, department officials continued with plans to bring on 25 officers by the end of February through a separate hiring process.

The 25 officers were hired through an alternate, expedited process.

Department officials currently are reviewing 78 candidates for those positions.

“I’m glad to see it. The hiring of officers is long overdue,” said John Williamson, president of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 1.

In the past few years, the number of officers fell from about 440 to around 360 this fall, said Camden Police Chief Scott Thomson.

To help fill the critical staffing need, state officials gave the department authorization in October to hire 25 new officers from across the state through the alternate hiring process.

As part of the alternate hiring program, candidates already must have taken the civil service exam and graduated from an accredited police academy.

Under the hiring guidelines, the alternate route applicants did not have to meet the city’s residency requirement.

Of the 49 standard recruits, 36 of them were brought on through the traditional process and are city residents, Thomson said.

More than 230 city residents were on a list of potential candidates for the positions.

“We hired only the best,” Thomson said. “We set an uncompromisingly high standard and Camden’s people answered the call.”

The city’s hiring policy requires those seeking to become entry-level police officers or firefighters to reside in the city when they take the civil service exam until the day they are appointed. After exhausting qualified local candidates, the city would consider those from Camden County, then elsewhere in New Jersey and finally out-of-state residents, in accordance with civil service procedures.

After completing the academy, Thomson said the officers will undergo three months of field training with the department.

Thomson said the additional officers will help to build on the success the department saw this year in reducing the reported number of major crimes to a 40-year low.

“We have made great gains this past year and we will reclaim even more neighborhoods with the additional boots on the ground,” he said.

Reach George Mast at (856) 486-2465 at gmast@camden.gannett.com