Camden prosecutor faces $3.2M budget cut

The Camden County Prosecutor’s Office is facing a $3.2 million budget cut, which could mean significant layoffs later this month. Camden County Prosecutor Warren Faulk is preparing for a worst-case scenario: laying off almost 70 people from his office on March 31.   “We are the second-busiest prosecutor’s office in the state,” Faulk said.  “We process and handle a whole lot more cases with less people. Any losses would be difficult, 66 would really devastate the office.”

“We are still working with the board of freeholders and hope to minimize that cut in our budget and as a result minimize the number of layoffs that we’ll have to make,” he said. If the layoffs happen, Faulk said the prosecutor’s office may have to be more selective about which cases it chooses to prosecute.  He said the office would still do its best to tackle violent crimes, but there may not be enough staff to prosecute other cases, such as property crimes.

Faulk said his office has been picking up work that Camden city police used to do–before the city went through with massive layoffs in January.

“We have become part of, or de facto, their detective bureau,” Faulk said. “It’s necessary for our people to do the follow-up investigations that normally would have been done by the detectives in Camden and in order for us to obtain the evidence necessary to prosecute.” That work, and other work done by the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office, may change if the layoffs happen.