SCARS REMAIN IN CAMDEN NEIGHBORHOOD

CAMDEN - On the corners around Camden's Waterfront South neighborhood
nearly everyone has a story about one of several city officers they
say plagued the community for years.

Young men grouped on street corners along Broadway and Ferry avenues
bristle at the mention of suspended officer Jason Stetser and former
officer Kevin Parry. Older men, resting on milk crates and cradling
tall cans of beer, simply nod. Most are afraid to talk, fearing other
officers may single them out as well.

"I never seen nobody like that before," Carl Collins said of Stetser,
known on the streets as "Fat Face."

Residents say some police officers have bullied them for years in this
impoverished neighborhood, making cases by planting drugs on suspects,
falsifying police reports and conducting searches without warrants.
Now four officers, including Stetser, are being investigated by a
federal grand jury.

"The cops were more of a problem than the crime was," said Josephine
Skinner.

Whatever fears the residents had of rogue officers were largely
confirmed on March 19, when Parry admitted in federal court that he
and four other officers were part of a special group who stole drugs
from some suspects, planted them on others, bribed prostitutes with
drugs for information, conducted searches without warrants, lied on
police reports and in testimony, and roughed up suspects. He
acknowledged 50 to 70 acts of police misconduct from May 2007 to
October 2009.

And while the Waterfront South neighborhood has breathed a little
easier since November, when Stetser, Parry and at least two other
officers were taken off the streets as authorities began their
investigation, some believe the still-unfolding scandal could leave
long-lasting impressions.

Aside from Stetser and Parry, Patrolman Antonio Figueroa and Robert
Bayard were also suspended in November. An attorney for Camden's
police union has said they are part of the federal investigation as
well.

The name of a fifth officer involved has not been confirmed by
authorities, but Camden Police Chief Scott Thomson has said that none
of the officers under investigation is still with the force. Aside
from Parry, none of the officers has been charged.

Dennis Kenney, a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice
in New York, said police scandals like the one in Camden can do
serious damage to law enforcements' relationships with the community.

"There are already folks out there who have their own suspicions," he
said. "What this does is it reinforces any negative notion anybody
ever had."

And when residents lose trust in their police force, Kenney said both
parties lose.

"The bottom line in police effectiveness is the extent that citizens
are willing to provide the police with information," he said. "When
you start framing those citizens, you destroy that
relationship."

One of those who claim to have been framed by police is Skinner's
46-year-old son, Mark. He said he had been arrested in November 2005,
just weeks after he was released from jail on a previous drug-dealing
conviction.

Mark Skinner said that 2005 arrest came as he sat on the stoop in
front of his mother's home, and that police -- including Stetser --
slammed him against the wall. Skinner said police failed to find drugs
on him or in the house, and then showed up with a trash bag full of
small orange bags of crack worth about $4,000.

He said he pleaded guilty to get a three-year sentence, rather than
risk up to 20 years with no chance of parole for a decade if he'd been
found guilty at trial.

"I did three years for nothing," said Mark Skinner, whose indictment
was dismissed by the prosecutor's office in December.

Chief Thomson has said he hopes city residents won't spread the blame
of the few officers across the department as a whole.

In an e-mail message last week, Thomson said the support he has felt
from the community so far has been outstanding.

"Our cops engage the community with such a high frequency of positive
interaction, the residents understand better than outsiders or
speculators, the vast majority of Camden cops are honest, dedicated
public servants who risk their lives on a daily basis," Thomson said.

As far as the officers under investigation, Thomson said they not only
operated outside the law but also in opposition to departmental procedures.

And not everyone feels the officers' conduct will have lasting
repercussions.

"I don't know that it's had a major impact on police relations," said
the Rev. Willie Anderson, chairman of Camden Churches Organized for
People. "These things do happen. I think all police forces sometimes
have some undesirable characters get in."

And Kenney, too, said the initial stigma caused by the scandal can one
day wash away if police leaders are open about the problem.

But for some residents of Waterfront South, the images of Parry and
Stetser may be hard to forget.

"They ran around putting drugs on people," Mark Skinner said. "You
don't ever know what (police) are going to do."

The Associated Press contributed to this article.