Behind it is a true community policing advocate, Chief Scott Thomson. Watch video
There are 1.5 million videos on YouTube depicting aberrant police behavior, with an alarming percentage showing the use of deadly force against unarmed men of color.
Most cops react to them the same way we all do -- with revulsion -- yet little seems to change in the street: They may acknowledge an atrocity, or put a guy on trial, or mandate a new training course. But the brutality still goes on when the cameras aren't rolling, and it leaves you with the sense that zero-tolerance enforcement will always be the default strategy.
Now comes video evidence that it doesn't have to be that way, courtesy of the Camden County Police Department, which is entering the fifth year of its historic reset.
The video is a singular example of de-escalation and restraint under great duress. It depicts a man who is distraught and unstable, wielding a steak knife and threatening customers in a chicken joint in Nov. 2015. As he exits and trudges south on Broadway -- slashing maniacally, as if battling phantoms -- a dozen officers form a cordon around him, keeping their distance, redirecting traffic out front, and getting no response as they order him to drop the knife.
After this three-minute ballet from hell, he drops the knife and the CCPD cops cuff him.
The Camden County Police crime statistics, through April 4 (Courtesy CCPD) Play out this scenario in other cities, and what happens?
More than likely, it's short and tragic.
"Every time our officers resolve critical incidents without extreme force, we celebrate it," CCPD chief Scott Thomson said. "In traditional policing, the only time guys were honored was when they discharged their firearm, and more often than not, it was justified. But not using deadly force is just as heroic."
The first paragraph of Thomson's use-of-force guidelines emphasizes the sanctity of life. In Camden, they practice what the chief preaches. He mandates "scoop and go" - officers driving gunshot victims to the hospital if a wait for the paramedics is impractical. He doesn't regard firearm use as a binary choice - good shoot or bad shoot? - and he advocates retreat when necessary.
"Repositioning yourself is perfectly fine," Thomson said. "If there is no imminent danger, if a guy walks a mile, we'll walk a mile with him."
The CCPD has come a long way since 2012, when the most dangerous city in America went broke and laid off half a force that was largely corrupt and recalcitrant. There was a record for murders that year. After the department was disbanded, Thomson had to shift the paradigm. He pulled cops out of cars and from behind desks, put many on bikes, and issued this directive: Treat the people you engage like citizens, not suspects.
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Does community policing work? Progress is incremental. But through the first four months of 2017, murders are down 89 percent from last year aggravated assaults are down 11, and non-violent crimes are down 16.
It will take generations to change the concentrated poverty and racial isolation in Camden, and no police unit can repair it or the behavior that results from it. But the worst nine square miles in our state become more tolerable when the cops care whether you live or die.
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