Camden Deputy Police Chief John Scott Thomson yesterday was promoted
to chief of police, taking over a department struggling to control drug
dealing, gang warfare, and a homicide rate on a record pace.
New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram also announced the Camden Community Safety Initiative, designed to more than triple the officers on the streets. The program will station at least one patrol car in each section of the city for 24 hours a day, and allow for large numbers of officers to be deployed at once.