Camden to Put a Bounty on Illegal Dumpers

CAMDEN – You soon may have a bounty on your head if you are illegally dumping waste in Camden.

A new section of city law being considered by City Council offers a reward of up to $1,000 to citizens who provide “information and assistance” to law enforcement in the apprehension and conviction of illegal dumpers in the city.

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Illegal dumping for years has been a problem in the city as individuals and businesses, particularly contractors, drive into the city and unload their waste onto empty lots, city officials have alleged over time.

The amended ordinance’s sponsor, City Council member Jannette Ramos, said that one memory of growing up in the city was the amount of trash dumped.

It is “sad to think I can remember those thoughts,” she told TAPinto Camden in a telephone interview on Tuesday morning as she went door to door in the Cramer Hill section handing out flyers about the city’s bulk trash collection program , which is one way to fight illegal dumping.

Ramos said she has worked with Mayor Victor Carstarphen on the law as “a way to ensure that a lot of illegal dumping is eliminated in our city.”

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Council members next week will decide whether to move along the reward program on the first reading of the ordinance. A second reading and public hearing would be required, likely at the Council’s next meeting, before it is adopted.

Under the proposed amended ordinance, a person providing information that leads to the apprehension and conviction of someone illegally dumping trash will be paid a $500 reward.

One of the most serious problems with illegal dumping is that sometimes the waste is toxic – possibly requiring expensive environmental remediation – and reporting that would increase the reward to $1,000 under the law.

In each case, testimony in court may be required of the whistleblower, according to the law.

City employees would not be eligible. Someone who reports dumping that is already under investigation may still get a reward if the new information provided is material and relevant to the case, the proposed law states.

Large cities have put bounties on the heads of illegal dumpers. Newark’s reward is $250, according to its city law. Philadelphia, New York City and Chicago also offer rewards.

The Camden County Police Department would get the job of chasing down illegal dumping tips and decide whether to arrest alleged offenders, Ramos explained.

If there were a poster child for illegal dumping in Camden, it would be the giant, illegal dump that formed over time at Seventh and Chestnut streets.

The cost to truck away the mostly construction waste was expected to total $5.5 million. That does not include environmental remediation of possible pollutants in the ground. Funds are being provided by city, state and federal sources.

“Illegal dumping will not be tolerated,” Mayor Carstarphen said at the dump site last November as the last of the piles were being removed by a caravan of trucks. “We will come after you.”

The state Department of Environmental Protection, with the City of Camden as a plaintiff intervenor, for more than two years has been suing several South Jersey companies and individuals they allege dumped the dirt into giant piles on a few lots at the site.

Defendants in the case are S. Yaffa & Sons Inc., William Yocco, Weyhill Realty Holdings LLC, Site Service Supply LLC, A. Franchi Contractors, Anthony Franchi and others, according to the court filing.

The discovery process of the case is scheduled to begin in June. Discovery is a pre-trial process in which parties in the case exchange information about evidence and witnesses.

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