Student sees former mayor as a ‘profile in courage’

By Anna Dougherty

Following is an abridged and slightly edited version of Anna Dougherty’s essay on former Camden mayor Dana Redd. Dougherty is a sophomore at Paul VI High School, Haddonfield. Her essay took first place in the national John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Essay Contest for High School Students.

U.S. President John F. Kennedy told us, “A nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces but also by the men it honors, the men it remembers.”

America honors many courageous people who have brought about much-needed change in our country, such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, but what about those brave individuals whose actions go unnoticed and unremembered by many of the American people — those whose struggles and efforts are passed by because they have not commanded the undivided attention of the country? One such person is former mayor of Camden, New Jersey, Dana Redd.

One could say Redd’s political career began in 1976 at the age of 8 when she received a letter from her father while he and her mother were on a weekend vacation. In the letter, he asked his daughter to one day do something extraordinary that would restore Camden to the way he once knew it. The tragic death, or possibly murder, of her parents that weekend would instill the motivation for her to later carry out her father’s wishes for her hometown.

Decades later, on January 5, 2010, Democrat Dana Redd became a Black woman holding mayoral position in Camden. Redd had been given charge of a city filled with crime, poverty, and violence. As mayor, she now had the resources to change all of this. In 2013, with one year left in her first term, Redd made the radical decision to disband the entire Camden Police Department. Overall, there had been 5,927 crime incidents in Camden during the previous year. That made Camden one of the most dangerous cities in the United States.

Redd’s plan involved firing the current police force, rehiring some, and making a county-run police department.

There were many in opposition to this plan, from local officials to criminal justice experts to Camden citizens.  Some citizens formed a petition to stop the dismantling of the police department. However, Redd stood firm in her decision to disband the department in spite of her plan’s unpopularity and even danger.

“I think there were times when she feared for her own safety, but she put the residents’ interests first,” Camden County Freeholder Director Louis Cappelli Jr. was quoted as saying in the 2019 SJ Magazine article “Just Dana.”

Redd faced the challenges Kennedy highlighted in his book, “Profiles in Courage,” as the very definition of politically courageous acts. The first one he discussed was “a form of pressure rarely recognized by the general public.” Redd certainly faced public opposition by Camden citizens, as nothing like this had ever been done before in New Jersey.

The second thing Kennedy elaborated on was the uncertainty of re-election. Even though Redd’s first term was coming to an end, she still made the unpopular decision to disband the Camden Police Department: “I don’t make my decisions based on [my] re-election prospects. … I’m not positioning myself for re-election. I’m just doing what I think is best for Camden,” she told the Philadelphia Tribune. She was doing what she believed to be best for her city, even if it could cost her the election.

Finally, Kennedy wrote, the third challenge was “the pressure of his constituency, the interest groups, the organized letter writers, the economic blocs, and even the average voter. To cope with such pressures, to defy them or even to satisfy them, is a formidable task.” Redd was under the scrutiny of many. “Because it’s never been done before, we’re being watched nationally and statewide,” she told the Tribune.

Redd’s decision to disband and reform the Camden Police Department did in fact help the city. According to police data, in the first quarter of 2014, after her plan went into effect, crime rates dropped significantly. For example, incidents of violent crime dropped from 398 to 304, and car robberies were reduced by nearly half, as noted in SJ Magazine.

In 2020, Redd’s work in Camden is still looked to as a good example of police reform. With the well-publicized death of George Floyd at the hands of a few Minneapolis police, it became obvious to many that some police officers needed to be educated in more humane tactics. The city looked to Redd’s work for inspiration; as described in the Philadelphia Inquirer, “When the Minneapolis City Council pledged … to disband that city’s troubled police department, some law enforcement experts and others pointed to Camden.”

Even though Redd’s ideas were unpopular and controversial, she still did what she knew was right. Redd worked hard for the people who elected her and had Camden’s best interests at heart. Her actions and successful re-election are perfectly described by the words of John F. Kennedy: “The true democracy, living and growing and inspiring, puts its faith in the people —faith that the people will not simply elect men who will represent their views ably and faithfully, but also elect men who will exercise their conscientious judgment — faith that the people will not condemn those whose devotion to principle leads them to unpopular courses, but will reward courage, respect, honor, and ultimately recognize right.”