Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan and Police Chief Eric Hawkins gave an update today on efforts to enhance public safety.
Hawkins says it marks the first of “regular periodic updates” on public safety in the city.
“We have multiple shootings, then the chief comes up and talks about the multiple shootings. We have a negative incident, Chief comes up talks about the negative incident. I've never shied away from it. Every single time something has happened in the city that's negative. I stand up. I'm transparent. I answered the questions, and I convey information," said Hawkins. "But I felt that there was more that I could do. You know, I think that the community needs to see the chief more than just when something bad happens. I think it's a it's a good look. And I think it's good for the community to hear from the chief just general updates on what's happening because I consistently hear that nothing is being done.”
With regard to violent crime in the city, Hawkins says that 85% of homicides had been between individuals who know each other.
Sheehan says it's important to get illegal guns out of residents' hands.
"If you do have a family member that is in some sort of either a mental health crisis, or some sort of domestic dispute, if you can remove guns from the equation, you know, it's not going to necessarily end the problem, but it will result in not having the trauma that we see that then often is exacerbated. We worry about retaliation and all of the things that happen when individuals in those situations have guns," Sheehan said.
Hawkins displayed slides, including one showing in 2020 there were 131 shooting victims in Albany, while 2022 ticked down to 96. In the thick of the pandemic, 2020 was a year of violence. Hawkins noted that from 2020, to 2022, there was a a 22% decrease in confirmed shots fired incidents.
“Last year, we had a record year for illegally possess handguns being taken off the street, a 27% increase," said Hawkins. "Over 30 more guns taken off the street from the previous year, in the previous year, was a good year. So the point that I'm making with this is that taking guns off the streets, saves lives. And it impacts in a positive way, gun violence in our city. And that was significant. And so as we move into this year, here's where we are, after those significant gains in progress that we made from 2020 to 2022. That momentum continues.”
Sheehan and Hawkins say there is no particular schedule for the public safety updates.
Monday’s press conference came as Nine members of the Common Council support a resolution to identify and designate “hot spot” areas of crime in Albany, backed by Common Council President Corey Ellis. Sheehan’s administration says they've already been doing that for more than a decade.
