Dr. Relly Nadler: Today, we have with us, the executive officer of Uniformed Operations from the Camden County Police Department. His name is Thomas Collins.
He began his career in law enforcement in 2003. Tom holds a Bachelor of Science and also a Doctor of Chiropractic degrees.
He has served in the neighborhood response team and detective bureau during his time at Camden Police Department.
He is currently assigned as the executive officer of the Uniformed Operations for Deputy Chief Verticelli.
Sergeant Collins has earned numerous certificates in his course of law enforcement career including hostage and crisis negotiation from the FBI. He serves as an instructor at the Camden County College for Police Academy. He also serves as an instructor at the Camden Police Depart.
Cathy, welcome to the show.
Dr. Cathy Greenberg: It’s a pleasure to have Tom with us today. Sergeant Collins, from the, actually nationally famous, Camden Police Department. I’m not sure if our audience is aware because most of those who are in our audience are focused on industry, but the Camden Police Department is a model policing organization across the United States.
So, we are so blessed and honored to have Sergeant Collins with us, today.
We won’t waste a lot of time with a huge introduction here.
What we are going to talk about today, which is to me, a really important topic and maybe too many of you – I hope it is by the end of today’s show – and that is; how do we approach the current environment that policing is erupting into and is suffering from.
It is a very chaotic time for people who have depended on law enforcement for their safety. They the first people, our first line of defense in our communities, and in our neighborhoods when something happens. We need, in most cases, domestic diplomacy, whether it’s a car accident, your home has been burglarized, your children are missing from their afterschool program – we forget many of the things that we think of when we hear police officer.
Many of us will remember our first interaction with a police officer was in grade school when they would come often with their dogs to show us what they do in the community and how to approach them for support and assistance.
Now, here we are in a position where policing is becoming a negative word in many communities.
Today, we are going to talk about, along with the environment that we are all facing whether it be a post-Covid pandemic environment where there is high stress and the ongoing evolution of what we are seeing in communities as a need for a new kind of policing.
We are going to really share with you some insights from one of the individuals who disbanded an entire police department with his brothers and sisters in arms and the government in New Jersey and rebuilt it from scratch.
Listen to the entire interview, above.
