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Albany Police Chief Eric Hawkins, common council president discuss public safety after latest shootings

As concerns about public safety rise throughout Albany's Pine Hills Neighborhood, the Common Council and Police Chief Eric Hawkins are responding to public outcry.

Another Pine Hills shooting in the vicinity of Hamilton and Ontario Streets was apparently one too many for 10th Ward Democratic Common Councilor Owusu Anane, who, more than a week ago, demanded the resignation of Police Chief Eric Hawkins.

As the story worked its way through local media, Anane claimed that seven councilors privately agreed with his view, which the mayor’s office dismissed as political grandstanding. The council took the unusual step of reining in Anane, without mentioning his name, in a joint letter. Council President Corey Ellis:

"I really think we should focus the emotion around why the council member feels the need to want to change," said Ellis. "And I think, you know, those are the things of the council we can discuss and talk about, which I think is more important. People are not feeling safe in our city. We know violence around the country continues to plague major cities. But it doesn't mean we don't look for ways to figure out how to how to minimize that. And I think some council members, not just Mr. Anane, feel like we are not in a good space when it comes to how are we dealing with this, or, sometimes members feel like they're not being kept abreast to the changing the changing policies, if there is a changing plan of how we're policing our city."

Pine Hills is heavily populated by the city’s college students. Hawkins spoke last week at a virtual Committee on University & Community Relations meeting where he advised young people in the area, if you "see something say something."

"Everybody should know who their beat officer is," Hawkins said. "So that if they have any concerns about the area, and if there's some trending things happening in the area, they can reach out to the beat officers in that area to talk about those sorts of things. Making sure again, you know, fully charged cell phones, when they're out, the time of day that they're out, you know, being smart about where they go when they go, and all those things."

The September 30th shooting near the Madison Avenue playground occurred in the same area as an early morning shooting in August where six young people were injured. Hawkins assured residents police have a sound plan to address violence in Pine Hills and across the city.

"We know that the guns are a big part of the violence that we're seeing is gun violence creating fear, so we're laser focused on taking these guns off the streets," Hawkins said. "We know that a small percentage of our population is responsible for a large percentage of our violence. The studies, both in New York and in other parts of the state, support that. And so we know it. And so that's why we've we have these strong strategies where we call it in law enforcement, a ‘focused deterrence strategy,’ where we identify the small group of violent individuals, we devote our resources, and we specifically target those individuals, and we take those individuals off the streets. And studies have shown that when you do that, then you have a positive impact on crime.”

In defense of fellow councilors, Ellis says many are young, new to politics and passionate about their neighborhoods, sometimes letting their emotions take over when they propose legislation or voice their opinions.

"And that's why we had to send out that press statement," said Ellis. "Because once there was a number attached to it, council members were looking at other council members saying 'who feels this way?' And I think a number of council members didn't want the media calling them trying to go down a list of where council members were, so more than a majority of them called us as leadership on the council to put out a press statement to disagree with what Mr. Anane's statement was."

Ellis says there has been no discussion as a body over whether to ask Hawkins to step down, and that "no one member speaks for any member other than themselves without permission."

Ellis strongly recommends Hawkins and Anane "sit down together and have a conversation."

Hawkins, who retains strong support from third-term Mayor Kathy Sheehan, said he has had a strong working relationship with Anane. Anane has not responded to requests for comment about the council’s letter.

Dave Lucas is WAMC’s Capital Region Bureau Chief. Born and raised in Albany, he’s been involved in nearly every aspect of local radio since 1981. Before joining WAMC, Dave was a reporter and anchor at WGY in Schenectady. Prior to that he hosted talk shows on WYJB and WROW, including the 1999 series of overnight radio broadcasts tracking the JonBenet Ramsey murder case with a cast of callers and characters from all over the world via the internet. In 2012, Dave received a Communicator Award of Distinction for his WAMC news story "Fail: The NYS Flood Panel," which explores whether the damage from Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee could have been prevented or at least curbed. Dave began his radio career as a “morning personality” at WABY in Albany.
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