The Albany Community Police Review Board says it is struggling to get cooperation from the city police department.
The independent body is tasked with reviewing complaints alleging misconduct by officers of the Albany Police Department. Since its powers were expanded in November 2021, the nine-member panel has been fighting uphill.
Following a local law passed by the Common Council and signed by Democratic Mayor Kathy Sheehan in 2021, a ballot measure approved by voters gave the board new powers including the ability to conduct its own independent investigations into complaints filed against police officers.
Mayoral board appointee Kevin Cannizzaro quizzed Albany Police Detective Keith Johnson during CPRB's September 14th meeting regarding investigations conducted by APD’s Office of Professional Services (OPS).
Cannizzaro: "Just for the board's knowledge, what's your average time to complete an investigation into a citizen complaint?
Johnson: "Without having any kind of numbers in front of me, I don't feel it's appropriate for me to answer that question. Because I'd either be it could be high volume or low balling, so I'm not I'm not gonna answer that question."
Cannizzaro: "OK, so detective, I want an answer. So can you provide the board with an answer through email? Once you have the chance to look at that information? I assume OPS keeps those records. So once you have an answer to that, I'm requesting that you provide that answer to the board."
Johnson: "I will pass that information on to my supervisors."
Cannizzaro: "What does that mean, detective?"
Johnson: "That I will pass the information requesting on to them and they will I don't have access to be able to do that and to print any kind of records out like that. So that's something that they would have to do."
Board Secretary Paul Collins-Hackett: "Our relationship with APD has become more contentious than any of us hoped for. As is the case, investigations are taking way too long, you know, there's appointments that you know, aren't kept, investigators have to do tons of driving, it's so much of a waste of time, which ultimately means a waste of taxpayer dollars. And that's not at all we will want to see, when we're working on a limited budget, as it is," said Collins-Hackett.
A September 2022 request to city hall to budget $2.8 million for the board to operate fell through. The CPRB was funded, but at the statutory minimum of 1% of the police budget, roughly $598,000. In November the Common Council approved additional funding of $172,000. Again, Collins-Hackett:
"The people of Albany overwhelmingly voted for the passage of Local Law J, you know, at the time, more people voted for the local agenda and even voted in the mayoral election, which is an incredible turnout, and very indicative of what the people want to see. Right. So our common council has been incredibly supportive, because they understand our goal is to improve transparency, and just make sure that citizens can trust the police. And the police have a much better working relationship with the people that they serve and protect. So for us, we remain cautiously optimistic. But I can say the struggles and barriers haven't been from the common council. They've been from the police union,” Collins-Hackett said.
Union officials did not respond to requests for comment. A police spokesman responded by email, saying "APD is not aware of any disconnect between the department and the Civilian Police Review Board. We remain committed to our partnership with the CPRB and will continue to be transparent with them as well as the community."
Collins-Hackett maintains the board's work is underfunded and is being hindered.
"I am super frustrated, like a lot of other people that I talk to every single day. Everyone is frustrated, because although the law was passed as a local law, it wasn't funded properly after, which left us with the inability to perform the task to the best of our ability. Nobody likes to see this kind of game being played. This is entirely unfortunate. It's entirely avoidable. And we're just hoping to work with APD and the police unions to come to some type of middle ground, because, us battling 24/7 is a waste of time and a waste of money," said Collins-Hackett.
The CPRB holds a working meeting at Albany Law School that is open to the public on the second Thursday of every month.
