A new report criticizes how the Albany Police Department handled a 2021 protest.
On April 14, 2021, Black Lives Matter activists gathered outside South Station for what was supposed to be a "peaceful protest." An officer swatted a light and a megaphone out of activists’ hands, and the crowd wanted him fired. Chief Eric Hawkins says the protest became a riot.
"It was a planned, premeditated, calculated effort on the part of individuals to attack police officers and police property," Hawkins said.
The crowd tossed water bottles and yelled expletives at police officers, while police appeared to respond with pepper spray. Democratic Mayor Kathy Sheehan blamed the demonstrators for the escalation.
"Banging on the doors, trying to get in, breaking a window, all of that done by protesters, not by the police, by protesters, in a scene that was eerily familiar to us, and reminded me of what we saw at the capitol on January 6th," said Sheehan.
Days later Sheehan apologized for that remark and the APD issued a statement saying it "supports the rights of individuals to engage in peaceful protest." That's when demonstrators decided to camp out front of South Station, pitching tents and building fires.
Six days later, Hawkins tweeted that it was time for demonstrators to go, and heavy equipment was brought in to clear the makeshift campsite. Ten people were arrested.
The report, commissioned by the Community Police Review Board, was prepared by T&M Protection Resources of New York City. Among its findings: an officer did inflict injury on a protestor, and police officers "escalated tensions” not giving protestors enough time to leave their encampment outside the station house before forcing them to leave.
Dr. Alice Green, executive director of the Center for Law and Justice in Albany, had visited the site and welcomes the release of the report.
"Even though the Community Police Relations Board issued this report after three years, there is still concern about it that I think focuses on some of the actions that took place, that raises a further concern about trust of the Albany Police Department. Many of the findings, of course, we'd already looked at almost three years ago. So they weren't a big surprise. But I think the concern now, because of this report, regarding the excessive use of force, still is of concern to the community," said Green.
The report also found officers removed or covered their badges and nametags on April 22nd as they cleared out the protestors. T&M investigators interviewed Hawkins, who admitted he told officers they could remove their name tags but not their badges.
"By saying there was some concern on his part that police officers be identified, and that people from the community would cause you know, damage or violence towards their loved ones, their families," Green said. "And of course, we never bought that. But it was interesting to see that that's how he responded. And also concerned that the police department never understood that they were taunting basically the community by having Blue Lives Matter T shirts on which didn't help in terms of the trust issue regarding the police and the community."
The chief also said that he had information critical to the safety of the Capital Region and that was why he made the decision to take down the encampment. Hawkins refused to share that information, citing confidentiality reasons. The department said he was not available for comment Friday.
T&M also noted the failure of APD to "engage in meaningful pre-negotiation regarding the take down of the encampment," rushing campers out with disregard for their personal possessions. T&M also faulted the lead officer in the takedown for failing to turn on his body worn camera during the operation.
T&M found that the APD failed to conduct a post-operative review of the takedown of the encampment and failed to prepare an After-Action Report.
Now that the T&M report is out, what comes next?
John Levendosky, who Chairs the Albany Community Police Review Board Standing Committee on Investigation, tells WAMC the ball is in Chief Hawkins' court. “We're hoping that the department takes these suggestions to heart. These are policies that are based on observations from the report and best practice in the law enforcement industry. So that's going to be presented to the chief of the department, and he has 60 days to respond, and we're hoping he takes it seriously and takes that to heart, and begins the conversation about improving those policies that we saw or were lacking with regards to the incident at Arch Street,” said Levendosky.
