Former Troy Police Chief Brian Owens is running for Rensselaer County Sheriff. The 49-year-old Brunswick resident led the Troy PD from 2018 to 2021.
A registered Conservative Party voter, Owens will appear on the Democratic and his own independent Liberty & Justice Party lines. Republican Sheriff Pat Russo, who is retiring, has endorsed Owens’ opponent in the race — Kyle Bourgault, who will appear on the Republican and Conservative Party lines. Bourgault has not responded to interview requests.
WAMC's Lucas Willard spoke with Owens about his run and experience as chief in collaborating with the county sheriff's office:
I think any law enforcement agency, maybe short of NYPD, just does not have the personnel resources to do everything themselves. And so, being able to cooperate and collaborate with other agencies is absolutely critical. So, as you mentioned, in Troy PD, we're able to successfully work with local, state, federal partners. Specifically, where Rensselaer County, it's a much bigger geographical area, obviously, the county-wide versus the city, but to be able to share resources and work together on active incidents, criminal investigations, long-term issues that are affecting the community that don't necessarily follow any of the borders of towns or cities within the county. Or even broader than that. I mean, we talk about within the Capital District, you know, we work closely, in Troy, we work closely with Albany and Schenectady police departments, because, you know, criminals don't follow borders, necessarily.
Sheriffs also have a position in New York State in advocating for policy changes, too, and there's been a lot of advocacy over the years on behalf of law enforcement for rollbacks or further changes to the state's criminal justice reform laws, bail reform, Raise the Age. Do you have a position on either of those, well, complicated pieces of legislation?
Certainly, and even going back to my time as chief before some of those reforms took effect, I raised concerns that they were going to have a disastrous impact on the community. And so I think we're seeing that now. I wish that it had been predicted or maybe some more law enforcement input was accepted upfront before the reforms were implemented, but bail reform needs to be adjusted. I think you're even seeing people who were originally in favor of it are now realizing that it may have gone too far. Obviously, the purpose of bail is to ensure the return of a defendant to court. But in terms of criminal violence and that cycle, having bail allowed judges the discretion, and if somebody was incarcerated, they were…it allowed for a period of time to disrupt that cycle of violence. And so that was an effect that it had. And now we're seeing a lot of retaliatory criminal violence that isn't interrupted by anything. And so, bail reform, Raise the Age. They definitely need to be adjusted and tweaked. Like I said, I've talked about that even before they took effect as chief and continue to advocate for law enforcement input and community input on the effects of those reforms.
Owens retired from the Troy Police Department in July of 2021. The pandemic brought with it an increase in homelessness in the collar city, and laid bare the increased need for mental health support and services. I asked Owens about his plans for addressing mental health.
Absolutely. Mental health is something that affects each of us and in particular in our community. Specifically to law enforcement at Troy PD, with the help of community partners, we were able to reestablish the Emotionally Distressed Persons Response Team training that allowed our members, and we also open it up to all law enforcement, surrounding agencies to include the county, even university public safety, and so that gave our members and members in law enforcement additional training on how to deal with people, both in mental health crisis but also it helps to build empathy so there's an understanding of when you're going on any type of call, whether it's a mental health related call, or property crime or any other crime that you might be responding to, just understanding where that person is in their life, where they're coming from and how you can best assist them. Mental health is an extreme concern for law enforcement, specifically. Members of law enforcement deal with chronic stress, difficult shifts, there's a shortage of personnel. I think that's pretty much every occupation nowadays, but particularly in law enforcement. And so, building in a wellness program and understanding mental health for our staff members is extremely important, as well.
The Rensselaer County Sheriff's office right now participates in a program called 287(g). It's a federal program and it relates to how law enforcement interacts with immigrants and people…regarding individuals immigration status. That's been somewhat controversial. Rensselaer County is kind of unique in New York State with participating in that program. Would you remain in that program? Or would you remove the office from that program?
So, I've done a little bit of research to the extent that I could understand the program. And you're right, there's two models, there's the warrant program, there's the jail program rents are counties, the only agency in New York State that participates in that. There was a recent Times Union article that help explain a little bit more about the program and had some input from ICE, Immigration Customs Enforcement, but there's still not a lot of publicly available information. So, before I would make a decision on whether to continue or end that program, participation in that program, I would want to understand who's been trained what is the cost of the county, and then what is the benefit? Is it benefiting county residents? Is it benefiting the federal immigration process? Does it help at all or not. And so, I don't know that we have those answers right now. And then more to the point I'm, I'm kind of unclear on if it's a civil detainer or if the county, in particular, the sheriff's office, has the authority under the criminal procedure law, corrections law, to hold the person on that civil detainer. Criminal entry into United States, if it's crime, a judge could issue a warrant. So, any warrant that is issued out of state or by federal judge, if it's a bench warrant or arrest warrant, we can hold that person as a fugitive from justice and that's already covered in the law. And so, I think that's a way if there's a concern about someone who's in the country illegally, use that program, use the existing laws in place to hold them if need be.
Was inquiring about an individual's immigration status ever a policy of the Troy Police Department while you were chief?
No, and I explained this in a couple community meetings and city council meetings when there was talk about sanctuary cities and such. And the only time that someone's citizenship status was even a question, would be as if they raised it as a concern. So, if somebody is a non-citizen, United States, and they're arrested, they could let us know that and then we could contact you know, their embassy if something needed to be, but otherwise, on the arrest form, previously used to be a handwritten form, and then it became electronic form, but there is a box for country of citizenship. And that would be the only time that would come up. So, at a street-level encounter, there would be no reason to ask that or need to know that. And in the course of an investigation, if it came up, it was discovered, it would be considered as part of the investigation, but there was nobody was going around asking people's citizenship or their status.
Currently, the Troy Police Department is under some scrutiny because of a crash that happened last February where an officer went through an intersection without the lights, without the dashcam on. There was a collision and a father of twins died as a result of the accident. What do you make of that incident? And is that something that in your view, as a former chief, does require any further oversight by the public of a city police department?
Firstly, that's a terrible tragedy. I mean, the loss of life and then devastation to that individual family. And the effects on the officer, I'm sure that that was definitely not an intended consequence. So, I'm aware of the incident, but I'm not versed in it. You know, I'm not currently there with the Troy Police Department. One of the things that I was able to establish with the Troy Police Department was a body worn camera program. And with that, we also were able to get funding for in-car video as well. So, to speak to the particulars of that case, I really can't. But as a general rule, I would say that body worn cameras and in-car video are useful tools. They're not perfect. They're not the cure all for if there's lingering trust issues or concerns from the community, but they are a good tool. One, for the evidentiary value, but also just for people to understand a lot of times what law enforcement officers go through when they're responding to a call or interacting with whatever it could be, just an ordinary call or a violent criminal. So again, to get back to that case, I really can't answer what should or could be done, but that is one of the things that we were able to implement was the camera program.
This race for Rensselaer County sheriff has not seen a public debate between the general election candidates. Is that something that you've sought? You know, have you reached out to your opponent in the race for public dialogue and debate?
Absolutely. I think, I'm certainly a new candidate and I've never run for office before. So, this is new to me. But just as a voter for many years and looking at elections in general, debates are an opportunity for the public to ask questions, but also to see interaction between the candidates and maybe better understand. It may not give you a full understanding, but at least it gives a dialogue back and forth a discussion of major topics or where a person stands. So the requests were made early on in a primary process. Jason Stocklas was a candidate in the primary for the Republican Party. He and I had several debate-type forums with an independent moderator. During this general election period, the League of Women Voters requested to hold the debate. We absolutely accepted and we're interested in that. And my understanding is my opponent or his campaign team did not agree to that. I also know that Spectrum News, additionally, requested to have a debate type forum with both candidates, myself and my opponent. And we agreed and it did not happen. So, I don't believe that they respond on their end. It's an opportunity I think, for both candidates to share their side and that's good but it's also the back-and-forth dialogue and a chance to rebut any comments that are made by the other opponent. There have been some very, very recent meet the candidate forums, but they were just, you know, you make your introduction, a few questions are asked, but there's no back and forth dialogue. Those two recent forums were also including town level candidates and other county races, so it wasn't focused on the sheriff's race, in particular.
