Sen. Cory Booker said police departments should follow Camden County’s lead in using ‘cutting edge’ tech
Booker toured the police department Friday, praising its crime-fighting strategies as "innovative and cutting edge."
U.S. Sen. Cory Booker stood Friday in the basement of the Camden County Police Department headquarters in downtown Camden, surrounded by floor-to-ceiling video screens displaying a lifelike training scenario: a distraught man teetering near the edge of a bridge, threatening to jump.
A young officer stepped forward and addressed the digital figure: “Just step back from the edge,” the officer said, “and come talk to me.”
The immersive simulation is part of a system the department uses to train officers to respond to volatile encounters without resorting to force — one piece of a growing suite of technology it has embraced over the last decade. Department officials credit those tools, along with broader policing reforms and community-engagement efforts, with helping reduce crime in a city once regarded as among the nation’s most dangerous.
Today, Camden’s homicide total sits at a four-decade low, while robberies, sexual assaults, and other violent crimes have also declined, according to police data.
Booker toured the department Friday to see those tools firsthand as he promotes federal legislation designed to help other law enforcement agencies adopt similar technology.
The proposal, known as the Violent Incident Clearance and Technological Investigative Methods Act, or VICTIM Act, would establish a Department of Justice grant program to help police departments increase staffing, purchase investigative technology, and train personnel to use it. Booker, a New Jersey Democrat, reintroduced the bipartisan legislation in March 2025 alongside Sen. John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican.
The measure comes as violent crime has fallen sharply in many cities across the country in recent years, a trend Booker said lawmakers should sustain through continued investment.
“What they’re doing here is so innovative and cutting edge,” Booker said after the tour, pointing to Camden as an example for other departments to follow.
Inside the Camden County Police Department’s Real Time Tactical Operations Intelligence Center, analysts monitor live camera feeds, 911 calls, and data streams from license plate readers and other sources. The center provides officers with real-time information during emergencies, helps investigators track suspects, and identifies crime patterns throughout the city, said Chief Gabriel Rodriguez.
The intelligence center works in tandem with the department’s drone unit.
Rodriguez said those tools, combined with training programs such as the simulation Booker observed Friday, have helped drive crime to new lows.
The city recorded 12 homicides in 2025, down from 17 the previous year and the fewest since 1985, according to department data. Violent crime also fell 6% last year, while robberies declined 12% and sexual assaults dropped 32%.
Camden has spent more than a decade reshaping its approach to policing, adding new technologies and investigative tools as funding became available. Booker said departments across the country cannot afford to stop investing in technology as criminal investigations become increasingly reliant on digital tools and real-time information.
“Technology is moving rapidly,” he said. “We’ve got to stay ahead of the curve, and that’s going to take constant investment.”
Several local officials joined Booker on the tour, including Camden Mayor Victor Carstarphen and Camden County Commissioner Director Louis Cappelli Jr., who highlighted the city’s crime reductions and broader public-safety gains as they walked through police headquarters.
Even so, police who have adopted technologies such as automated license plate readers and large-scale camera networks have drawn scrutiny from civil-liberties groups nationwide. And on Friday, Rodriguez acknowledged that some residents are skeptical of the department’s use of technology.
But he said many have also come to view it as a benefit, pointing to faster emergency response times and the department’s efforts to address quality-of-life concerns such as illegal dumping.
Some residents, Rodriguez said, are even curious enough to tour the facility themselves.
“A lot of communities often feel like they have too much of the policing they don’t want and not the policing that they need,” Booker added. “Standing here in Camden, where we’re finding ways … to make tremendous progress … the key for me is making sure that we can continue to get better and better as a state.
“Overall,” he said, “crime is going down in New Jersey. But we want to continue that momentum and not just see crime rates go down, but community strength and community partnerships go up.”