Camden County police are "doubling down" on training as summer approaches.
CAMDEN -- The city was only a week into the new year when gun violence claimed 2016's first murder victim -- a 13-year-old shot who was shot in the back by a fellow teen.
In the five months that followed, another 20 names would join the growing list of homicides detailed on the county prosecutor's website: A couple engaged to be married, a mother allegedly at the hands of her son and four men over a span of as many days in late May.
At this point last year, the city was faced with half that figure -- 10. As summer approaches, when crime rates almost always spike, the Camden community wonders what's around the next corner.
"This is only the beginning. This is the spring. What does the summer hold?" pastor, community activist and former mayoral candidate Amir Khan said Wednesday when asked about the recent spate of city shootings.
It's been three years since the Camden County Police Department officially took over policing duties in the city, and in those years, the city's murder rate was cut nearly in half compared to 2012 when it saw a record high of 67.
In that year, however, 23 people were killed before June -- a rate that the city is about to match.
"When you're not making way for jobs, this is the result of it," Khan said, adding that of all the current, former or incarcerated supposed gang members he's spoken with, there's one common bond: "They don't want to be out there."
Despite all the recent business developments in the city, from the Philadelphia 76ers new waterfront facility to Holtec International's sprawling footprint along the Delaware River, Khan said more must be done to employ city residents if the tide of violence is to ever be stemmed.
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As a man of the cloth -- and demonstrably his word -- Khan, former mayor Milton Milan and other pastors rented a helicopter in 1999 so they could pray above the city for an "end to violence, prosperity upon the residents and peace in the streets."
And it worked, Khan said. At least for awhile.
It was three years ago in May that the CCPD was formed as a cost-saving regional force, with Camden City being the first -- and only municipality to date -- to come aboard.
"We are diligently working with the [Camden County] prosecutor's office to solve the murders that have occurred and the FBI to prevent the next act of gun violence," police Chief Scott Thomson said Wednesday in a statement. "Homicide solves are up over 50 percent of this year as we also enhance our investigations of violent drug gang members."
Indeed, Tuesday was a dramatic day in Camden County Superior Court as three young men -- charged with felony murder in the shooting death of a 19-year-old city man -- reeled when learning they could be behind bars for decades to come.
Kelly Francis, president of the Camden County NAACP, has lived in Camden since 1949 and has seen four generations of Camden cops patrolling his streets, walking his sidewalks and protecting his neighborhoods.
It wasn't until the early 1970s when residency requirements for New Jersey police and firefighters went into effect that Francis, whose NAACP chapter has regularly documented turnover rates at Camden metro, saw things take a turn.
"It's a revolving door of rookies," he said of their ranks. "They are coming in, getting trained and getting jobs elsewhere. It's very smart on their part."
Contrast that, Francis said, to the Cooper Grant section of the city near Rutgers University that hasn't seen a homicide in more than a decade.
He argues that's because there are "experienced" and "career" members of law enforcement serving on the Rutgers force, Camden County Sheriff's Office, Delaware River Port Authoriy and New Jersey State Police protecting that area.
Thomson, touching on the ranks of his force, said "staffing and diversity challenges" are being addressed with the state Civil Service Commission while the CCPD awaits assistance.
"We are doubling down on community policing with the recent academy class of 61 officers who will be partnered with seasoned training officers and deployed to walking beats in our most challenged areas with the mission of hitting 'tipping points' by building relationships and getting good people to enjoy their streets," Thomson said.
Asked what he thinks the next few months hold for Camden, Francis said suburbanites will keep coming to Camden to score and, in turn, fuel the drug trade, spill more blood and perpetuate the cycle of violence.
"I don't see how that can be mitigated" by a "rookie" police force, he said, who can't tell "an honors student from a drug dealer."
Greg Adomaitis may be reached at gadomaitis@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @GregAdomaitis. Find NJ.com on Facebook.