FAITH IN CAMDEN COUNTY SENDS LETTER TO COUNTY LAWMAKERS CALLING FOR POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY, FOLLOWING INTERFAITH PRAY-IN AND PRESS CONFERENCE
FAITH IN CAMDEN COUNTY SENDS LETTER TO COUNTY LAWMAKERS CALLING FOR POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY, FOLLOWING INTERFAITH PRAY-IN AND PRESS CONFERENCE
Camden, N.J.: Earlier today, representatives from Faith in Camden County, a chapter of Faith in New Jersey,held an interfaith pray-in and press conference outside the Camden County Police Department, calling for systemic changes in public safety and policing within the Camden County Police Department. These changes were detailed un a letter that was signed by sixteen faith leaders from Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Black, White, and Latinx congregations across the county.
The text is below:
Dear Freeholder Director Louis Cappelli, Mayor Frank Moran, and Chief Joseph Wysocki:
The faith community of Camden County is exhausted by the systemic racism aimed at city residents. We will uproot it in every institution: Education, Housing, Government, and Religious Institutions, but given recent national momentum, we must begin by re-imagining how policing is done.
As Camden County’s faith community we believe in the Kingdom of God. We believe that instead of policing people we are called to serve, love, and invest in people. Therefore, it pains us to see our County’s budget showing its priority to police city residents instead of investing in them. It disturbs us to see Camden spending $68.5 million dollars on policing Camden City and less than $37 million on housing. Imagine, if instead of spending our millions on policing, we invested in community education, recreation, and trained community members as first responders.
Furthermore, while we know the following doesn’t represent the majority of community-police interactions, it grieves us to have witnessed violence at the hands of local police officers. We have seen our neighbors pepper sprayed by Woodlynne police officers and punched in the face 12 times by Camden County police officers.
The undersigned, with Faith in Camden County and in support of Camden’s Black-led youth movement and Camden Arts for Change, are calling for the following changes in Camden County Police Department, Woodlynne Police Department, and for all police departments in the County.
No Racist Officers
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Investigate the department for racism and fire all officers with ties to white supremacy, racist organizations, or expressing racist views. Develop a no tolerance policy to fire officers who are connected to or expressing racism. Philadelphia did a similar investigation in 2019 and placed 72 officers on administrative duty and fired 13 officers.
Invest in Community
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Reallocate Funds from policing to community based alternatives. By funding community based first responders, police can focus on responding with de-escalation to violent crimes. We are calling for the police to become more focused, and handle less work. We are calling for the CCPD policing budget to go down to 34 million dollars, (in Patterson the police budget is 44 million and they have twice the population), and for the decreased 34 million dollars to go to: extracurricular community education and recreation, Camden based grassroots organizations and faith organizations, and hiring neighborhood OG’s and community members trained in mental health as first responders.
Our Seat at the Table
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Develop a citizen elected, Civilian Review Board that is responsible for hiring and firing police officers, shaping the police to be made up of Black and Latino city residents, as well as working in partnership with police command to approve the weaponry and equipment used by the department, and investigating use of force, racial bias, and all other audits of the department.
The undersigned believe that God is on our side, and we will work until our City and County more closely reflects God’s Kingdom.
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Rev. Heyward Wiggins III, Camden Bible Tabernacle, Camden |
Rev. G. Kent Walmsley, Hope Memorial Baptist Church |
Pastor Amir Khan, New Beginnings, Camden |
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Imam John Starling, GCLEA, Cherry Hill |
Pastor Ojii Baba Madi, Asbury Community Church, Woodlynne |
Mr. William F. Schulze, St. Mary RC Parish, Cherry Hill |
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Rabbi Abby Muchaleski, RAPHA, Cherry Hill |
Rev. Jesse Brown Jr., Christus Evangelical Lutheran, Camden |
Kenneth Scott, St. James Apostolic Church, Sicklerville |
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Chaplain Mahdi Ibn-Ziyad, CCNAACP Religious Affairs Chair, Camden |
Rev. Gregory Stratton, Christian Community Center, Camden |
Ronsha Dickerson, Camden Parents Union, Camden |
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Pastor Brent Miller, First Baptist Church of Collingswood, Collingswood |
Pastor Leroy Nesbitt III, Emmanuel Church, Camden |
Father Pedro Guzman, St. Andrews Episcopal Church, Camden |
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Imam Faheem Lea, The Quba School & Islamic Center |
Rev. G. Kent Walmsley, Hope Memorial Baptist Church, Camden |
Contact for more information: Brendan Van Gorder | brendan@faithinnewjersey.org | 267-210-5232
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Faith in New Jersey, is part of the national Faith in Action network. We are a multi-faith and multi-racial network of faith leaders and faith communities working together to protect religious liberties and advance an immigration, racial, economic and human justice agenda at the local, state and federal level. Faith in New Jersey’s mission is to develop grassroots community leaders, analyze the policies that shape our communities, and mobilize faith voices and faith voters to effectively act on the prophetic call to build the Beloved Community.
Faith in Action, formerly known as PICO National Network, is the largest grassroots, faith-based organizing network in the United States. The nonpartisan organization works with 1,000 religious congregations in more than 200 cities and towns through its 46 local and state federations. For more information, visit www.faithinaction.org.
Faith in Action is a 501c(3). Faith in Action and its affiliates are non-partisan and are not aligned explicitly or implicitly with any candidate or party. We do not endorse or support candidates for office.
