Nearly 40 people arrested in North Camden drug sweep

Nearly 40 people were arrested in a police sweep through North Camden earlier this week that targeted the neighborhood's drug trade, officials announced Friday.

As part of Operation Padlock, state, county, and city authorities spent two days in the area around Northgate Park going after drug dealers and the men and women who buy from them.

The operation is scheduled to continue over the next several weeks, as Camden police grapple with an entrenched network of drug suppliers and dealers that dominate parts of the city.

"What we're trying to do is a concentrated effort towards these open-air drug markets," Camden Police Chief Scott Thomson said. "We'll continue to apply pressure from both the supply side and the demand side."

The arrest sheet showed the demographics of drug dealing in the city, which is routinely ranked one of the country's most violent:

Of the 37 people arrested, six were charged with selling drugs. All the dealers are men from Camden, ranging in age from 19 to 53.

Virtually all of the 31 buyers arrested were from outside Camden, including from Woodbury, Cherry Hill, Maple Shade, Marlton, Mount Laurel, Runnemede, and one from as far away as Toms River. Almost half were younger than 30.

Thomson struck a fatalistic note when discussing what impact the police action would have on discouraging the influx of suburban drug users.

"We've done these operations before and arrested the same people twice in the same day. You're talking about a chemical dependency," he said.

"The suburbanites are generally the lifeblood to our open air-drug market problem."