CAMDEN — Camden Village Council reviewed reports regarding updates the Camden Police Department is undergoing, as well as the fluctuation of criminal offenses made against persons on April 21.

Reports show offenses against persons, such as burglaries, residential burglaries, assaults and alcohol related offenses, averaged between 10 to 30 individual incidents in the years 2014, 2015 and 2016. Reports for 2021 show there were only three burglary-related offenses for the entire year within the village, all of which occurred at the same business. Two of the three offenses were corrected by the police department, with officers finding and returning the stolen property according to the reports.

The Camden Police Department also made known to council it has completed the five-step process to be certified through the Ohio Collaborative Community-Police Relations program. The Ohio Collaborative Community-Police Relations program, also known as Ohio Collaborative, is an executive order given by former Governor John Kasich in 2015, in which 960 law enforcement agencies were asked to comply with new law enforcement policies. These policies aim to strengthen the relationship between law enforcement and its respective community.

One policy implemented by Ohio Collaborative is the bias profiling report, which requires officers to log the sex, ethnicity and race of any individual pulled over by police. This policy is easier to carry out with the use of a CAD (computer aided design) system, which quickens response times and allows easier access to information for police dispatchers. Council approved the Police Department’s request for CAD systems to be installed into their vehicles last year, a decision which has now improved Camden Police Department’s response times on calls, according to officials.

Camden Village Council meetings take place the first and third Thursday of each month at 7 p.m. at Camden Town Hall.