“I CAN’T breathe!” chanted hundreds of people throughout New York and around the country yesterday. The peaceful protests were in response to a grand jury decision not to indict Daniel Pantaleo, a Staten Island police officer, for killing Eric Garner after placing him in a chokehold in July. The chant is a reference to Garner’s final words before he died. The chokehold—recorded on the mobile phones of bystanders—is a manoeuvre that is banned by New York police. For many protesters, Garner’s death and Mr Pantaleo’s freedom simply reinforce the view that America’s criminal justice system is racially biased. The timing of the verdict, less than two weeks after a grand jury decided not to indict a white police officer for killing an unarmed black man in Ferguson, Missouri, only burnishes this belief. Eric Holder, the attorney-general, has promised that the Department of Justice will investigate the Garner case. Earlier this week, he announced that the DoJ will soon offer new guidelines to law enforcement "to help end racial profiling, once and for all." He delivered his speech from Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, where Martin Luther King Junior famously preached.

As the administration casts about for ways to build trust between police departments and the public, they would do well to look at what is happening in Camden, New Jersey, a poor city that once had the reputation for being America’s most dangerous. Camden disbanded its police department about 18 months ago, installing a new county unit in its place. Crime has since fallen considerably. Murders dropped by 49% to 31 between 2012 and 2014 (January 1st through November 30th). Shootings have been halved, robberies and rape are down by a third, and other violent crimes are down by a fifth. In a population of around 77,000, 35 fewer mothers are now burying their sons each year.

What is Camden’s police force doing right? At the most basic level, the city has returned to old-style policing. Instead of using squad cars, officers now patrol their beats on their feet in pairs (or on bicycles). They knock on doors and introduce themselves, and learn the names of people in a neighbourhood. “Nothing builds trust like human contact,” says Scott Thomson, Camden’s police chief. Locals can be a great source of information about where the problems are, he adds, “but that’s not going to happen without trust.”’

The culture within the police department has also changed. “Two years ago, if you had 12 officers show up for work on a Friday night, you’d be lucky,” recalls Louis Cappelli, head of the county’s governing board. “That’s no exaggeration.” It used to take around an hour for police to respond to a call for help; now it takes less than five minutes. Officers are also trained to understand they are guardians, not warriors. “They are far more like a social worker than they are a crime fighter,” says Mr Thomson. The department is also now working closely with other departments in the region, as few crimes are purely local. When drug dealers used to prowl Camden’s streets, nearly 80% of the buyers came from the surrounding suburbs.

Around Camden, the effects of this approach can be felt right away. During a visit a few years ago, a community organiser warned me that I probably wouldn’t be safe even if I drove around town. At the time the city had 175 open drug markets. But now, with bullets no longer whizzing by, children can be seen walking to school and playing in parks once dominated by drug sellers and addicts. Adults walk to the shops without fear. “Residents were desperate for police protection,” said Mr Cappelli. Would-be criminals think twice about carrying weapons as they are more likely to run into an officer. The McDonald’s across the street from police headquarters is now once again a place to buy burgers, not crack. Camden’s waterfront is safer than Harvard Square, boasts Mr Thomson.

Arrests have gone up, mostly for quality-of-life infractions. But officials insist their main tack for preventing crime is through building community relationships. Officers are not only more visible on the streets, but also more engaged with their neighbourhoods. They play sports with residents and organise crowd-pleasing events like a Thanksgiving turkey give-away. The police department had already invested in some new technologies, such as gunshot detectors and surveillance cameras in particularly high-crime areas. Some officers are also experimenting with wearing body cameras while on duty. But the city has found that these tools only work if there are boots on the streets too.

Crime is down in Camden, but there is still much to do. Poverty remains pervasive: the city has the poorest ten square miles in the country. Barely half of all students finish high school. Still, there is much to cheer. Camden’s safer streets are already luring new investments. Philadelphia’s 76ers, a professional basketball team, is moving its training facilities and front-office operations across the river to Camden. Plans for new shops and restaurants are in the works for the surrounding area. Things are certainly looking up for Camden. Ferguson should be so lucky.