Nine members of the Albany Common Council are supporting a resolution to identify and designate “hot spot” areas of crime in Albany. Police say they've already been doing that for more than a decade.
Saying he will not stand by and watch Albany be overrun by criminal activity, Common Council President Corey Ellis’ "Quality of Life and Public Protection" proposal includes looking at increasing law enforcement patrols in hot spot areas where there has been a continuous upward trend of crime, bad behavior and associated police calls. Ellis says the main point of the plan is to organize information that the police department receives concerning hot spots.
"To know to get that data on it, and to get to how do we codify hot spots? How do we what do we do when the police department deems a certain area location a hot spot, so the council members can have that information, knowing what groups are working with, knowing what the plan is," Ellis said. "So that way, when we get calls, as elected officials, we can say, in that area where there's a high tick of crime happening, this is what's being done. And that is one that is one aspect. The second aspect is to look at how we are when people are calling for more patrolling or more presence within a neighborhood, when we know we're down police officers looking at another program where we can bring in other as I call them, 'quality of life officers.' These people we can train to be in neighborhoods and trained to be in parks and things of that nature."
Albany Police spokesman Steve Smith says the department has strategic initiatives it uses every day to combat gun violence, and has engaged in hot spot policing for more than a decade.
"We obviously have one of the largest crime analysis centers in the state," said Smith. "We're constantly analyzing data as a means to deploy resources here in the city, not just to address crime, but other various issues throughout the city. So we've been doing it for quite some time. We also are a recipient of GIVE funding from the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services. As part of the GIVE, we need to supply a plan every year involving our strategies to receive that funding. And we do as part of that plan include our hotspot policing strategies, so it's something we've been doing for quite some time. In addition, Chief Hawkins has appeared in front of common council numerous times to discuss our strategies, discuss our plans to give case updates and other information as it relates to quality of life here in the city of Albany and crime."
Common Councilor Tom Hoey chairs the Public Safety Committee:
"I'm supporting the hot spot legislation, resolution, that we will be introducing on Monday. And I think it's important, even though we've covered a lot of the same points that are in this resolution, it's always good to go back and revisit and rebrand and re-redo it and see what works and what doesn't work and adjust to that. The community is calling for this type of action. And we as a council, we to be able to show the community that we were listening," said Hoey.
Mayor Kathy Sheehan's Chief of Staff David Galin criticized Ellis' efforts on social media, saying "this non-binding resolution is nothing more than a recitation of what the city has been doing under Mayor Sheehan’s leadership to combat violence and address quality of life issues. Anyone who does not realize that simply has not been paying attention."
Ellis, a fellow Democrat, is unfazed.
"It seems like it's becoming more political. Anytime council members, and this is not just me. We've been getting letters, nine council members co-signed on this, this resolution. That's the majority of the council. And so to say 'we're doing this already, we're doing this already.' So nine council members must not be paying attention either," Ellis said.
