In Camden, a new approach to public safety is showing promise.

Since it launched in 2020, the Camden Village Initiative pairs police officers with social workers to respond to emergency calls, using both enforcement and support, aiming to connect residents in crisis with resources for housing, addiction, and mental health services.

And early results suggest it's working.

Senior correspondent Joanna Gagis went out with a team to see their work in action today.

Hey, Joe, good to see you.

So what did you find?

Hey, Brianna, we got to see firsthand what it looks like when this team of police officers and social workers connect with the folks in Camden in need.

Sometimes it's a matter of taking calls or walk-ins that come into the station, but at various times throughout the week they go out into the places where people are most likely to be, those struggling with homelessness, addiction, joblessness, and other concerns.

And today we got to see just how impactful that outreach can be.

What type of services can we assist you with today?

Any food assistance or clothing assistance?

They go out in teams.

Social workers from the Center for Family Service paired with Camden County officers, a new partnership that launched in 2024 as part of Camden's Village Initiative.

Not every encounter leads to service connections.

This gentleman refused everything but the handouts offered by the team.

This is a wound kit and these are a hygiene kit with refreshments, okay?

All right, this is for you, Mr. Moore.

Always engage, even if it's the third, second time, third time.

Our goal is that they eventually say, yes, I'm done with this, I need help, and we transport them right away.

And while it's rare that someone says yes to immediate transport for services on the first encounter, sometimes outreach meets desperation with perfect timing.

She said, yeah, I'm homeless, I'm on the street.

So I said, we got Center for Family Service here, we could help you.

And I said, we could actually help you immediately.

And she said, yes, can you please help me?

We are setting up an immediate transport to our navigation hub on Benson Street that will be able to set up substance use treatment for her.

So they'll review, see what beds are available in the county, and then set up a transport to get her over there.

That's how we do it, right?

We come out here and, you know, not everyone is always at that stage of readiness, but we were very fortunate that when we engaged this individual that she consented to treatment and consented to immediate transport.

So I'm grateful that we were able to coordinate that today.

I had a smile on my face because it's a big challenge to do immediate transport.

They usually say they do want the help, and then they kind of forget about it.

We still go out and engage, we keep engaging until they obviously just say they're sick and tired of it and come out.

But that was immediate, that was the first time I engaged with her.

And when she said, yeah, I want to go now, I just put a smile on my face.

Addiction and homelessness often go hand in hand here.

The point in time count released in July showed almost 760 individuals were homeless in the city on any given day, a third of them for more than a year.

Whether that's unhoused population, whether that's our missing runaway youth or at-risk youth, we try to assist families as a whole when we engage and try to assist as best as we can.

What are you seeing in terms of the impact in the community because you have this partnership?

I believe it has been beneficial.

A lot more individuals are aware of what we can offer, the available resources.

We have different trainings, we look at things in a different lens, and I believe we work best as a group.

Sometimes there are calls that officers respond to that are more in the realm of social service needs such as mental health or substance-related, and we can try to assist with the de-escalation process, whereas police can work on the safety concerns.

It's a different approach.

It's a softer approach.

It shows them that we're here to help them.

We're not here to rest our way out.

We're here to help them.

We know they have families.

That's somebody's wife, somebody's mom, so we just try to get them back on the right path.

And a promising statistic.

Camden's seen a 37 percent drop in fatal overdoses in the first six months of 2025 compared to the same time last year, according to the county, a signal to this team that their consistency and care is actually saving lives.

In Camden, I'm Joanna Gagas, NJ Spotlight News.

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