Camden reaches its lowest homicide total in 40 years

The city of Camden last year reached its lowest homicide total since 1985, police said.

In 2025, Camden recorded 12 homicides, the same number as in 1985. Homicides dropped down from 17 in 2024, and the declining year-end total comes after Camden experienced its first homicide-free summer in 50 years.

» READ MORE: Camden had zero homicides this summer. City and county leaders credit the 2013 disbandment of its police department.

Camden saw an overall 6% drop in violent crime in 2025 compared to the prior year, including a 32% decrease in sexual assaults and 12% decrease in robberies, according to police.

“The consistent engagement with residents and community policing efforts have helped to build trust within our community,” said Camden Mayor Victor Carstarphen in a statement. “There is still plenty of work yet to be done, but through this collaborative effort we are building a safer and healthier Camden.”

Leaders have attributed the shift largely to the disbandment of the city of Camden’s police department in 2013. Since then, the replacement Camden County Police Department and the city have embraced more community policing strategies, paired social workers with officers, and supported programming that provides better opportunities and care for at-risk youth.

Homicides have dropped by 82% since 2012, the last full year of the former police structure. But leaders have also credited the city’s investments in third spaces and infrastructure in recent years, like $100 million in parks over the past five years and repaving streets.

Thirteen years ago, “a homicide-free summer would have been a pipe dream for us,” Louis Cappelli Jr., director of the Camden County Board of Commissioners, said in a statement.

Camden’s homicide and violent crime rates match national trends of decline after having surged during the pandemic. Philadelphia experienced its lowest homicide total in nearly 60 years in 2025, and other cities historically marked by higher rates of violence like Baltimore and Chicago have also seen major homicide declines.

Crime researchers have been unable to identify any singular cause behind the nation’s drop in violence, but they theorize that cities, like in Camden, have broadly shifted toward greater investments in violence prevention programs and infrastructure, as opposed to traditional policing.

For Derrick Gallashaw, life in Camden today feels much different than it did when he was growing up there in the 1980s and ’90s. It was more dangerous back then, and the community’s relationship with police was more strained.

“It feels like the city is safe now,” he said.

Gallashaw is the regional director of Mighty Writers, a nonprofit offering afterschool writing programs for youth and food distribution. The Camden County police credited its partnership with Mighty Writers and other groups for helping to reduce violence.

Gallashaw is a believer in the strategy, too. He said the community policing initiative, paired with support for programs like his, have made a major impact on reducing violence. They are able to reach more people in need and address the conditions that often lead to crime.

“You give them options and you’re providing a need. If someone is hungry, you’re not giving them a reason to have to go out and steal something to eat. We’re finding a resource for you right now,” he said.

As Camden resets its violence statistics at the new year, Gallashaw said sustaining the city’s success would require leaders to continue listening to community members about their needs and not impose solutions from the top down.

It’s not just the city and police who are responsible for keeping the numbers low — he wants groups and community members to continue filling people’s needs as well.

“We all have to get together because it expands that reach,” he said.