To outsiders, Camden can seem a forbidding place. The crime. The turmoil. The constant sense of crisis.

And that's not the city's mean streets. It's the municipal government, torn in recent years by corruption, infighting and political unrest.

But image experts said Camden doesn't have to be a prisoner to its past. They contend city officials, while giving priority to severe problems like poverty and the drug trade, can also improve Camden's public profile.

They also said any gains won't come easily.

"To change Camden's image, it's not impossible but it's a monumental task," said Larry Litwin, a professor of public relations at Rowan University in Glassboro. "It's one of the great, great, great challenges."

Camden's reputation took another hit Friday, when a federal judge sentenced former Mayor Milton Milan to more than seven years in prison for corruption. Milan was the third of the city's last six mayors to be convicted of a felony.

"It breaks your heart," said Brian Tierney at The Tierney Group in Philadelphia, the region's largest marketing and communications firm. The agency has a government affairs unit.

"You see a city with incredible needs that seems to have one bad apple after another," said Tierney, noting he did not include current Mayor Gwendolyn Faison in that group. " It's almost like someone robbing the destitute."

Anne Klein, a public relations expert in Marlton, said city officials should take strong measures to prevent future corruption and abuse of government.

"The first thing to do is set up systems and procedures that really put your house in order," she said. "You have to show, `It's not going to be business as usual.' If you don't do that, anything you say is just words."

She also said city officials should create channels, such as advisory panels, for better communications with residents and business operators. And she said the city should find something to brag about.

"Go to the positives," said Klein, noting the extensive development along the city's Waterfront. "You've got an opportunity here to also say, `We want to show you how good things are.'"

But the experts said Camden officials can't expect slogans or special events to gloss over problems. "The city must clean itself up physically before it can be cleansed mentally," he said.

The communications specialists also saw losers on all sides in a current dispute between city and state officials. A state bill offers $150 million in badly needed aid to Camden, but local officials fiercely oppose terms that would allow greater state intervention in city government.

"The state coming in is a good thing. They need the political equivalent of martial law," said Tierney.

"I think Camden has to go overboard in terms of being open to state oversight or any other kind of third parties who come in and analyze how things are done," he said. "When elected officials fight that, I'm sure they have their reasons. But all it makes you do is think, `Here we are with selfish people who don't care about their community.'"

Tierney dismissed the claim by city officials that state control would deny local residents the right to self- government.

"You feel like laughing to be honest," he said. "The people there have been disenfranchised for decades by the existing political structure."

At the same time, Klein said state officials may have erred by crafting the controversial bill without local input.

"You have to talk to people," she said. "People get upset when things are just laid on them without any warning. People like to feel that they have some part in shaping their future."