The Albany County city of Watervliet has a new police chief.
William Rice was sworn in Thursday. The departing Joseph Centanni, who is leaving for a position in Florida, had been in the role since 2021 after 25 years with the Troy Police.
Rice, who lives in Bethlehem, says his top priority is addressing crime in the city.
“We want to get a handle on the crime. I know, speaking with the mayor, our concerns there is the juvenile problems they're having pretty much in every community, I think, around the Capital District,” Rice said. “So, we have some programs coming. I'm going to sit down with the mayor's office and see what we can get out and institute here in the city.”
Rice, who has over 30 years of experience in the field, retired from the Albany County Sheriff’s Department in February, where he served as a K9 officer, investigator, inspector, and Undersheriff.
Rice also spent time with the nearby Green Island Police Department and as Green Island’s Public Safety Commissioner.
Rice says he’s been in his colleagues’ shoes and prides himself on treating everyone fairly.
“I tried to help as much as possible. And I think, I'm hoping, if you asked anyone within the sheriff's office, I think everyone would tell you that that I was a fair boss,” Rice said. “I was a good boss, and the biggest thing is help. I had the experience, and I tried to lead these new recruits and new officers and new deputy investigators to get the best out of them, and that's what I tried to do.”
Mayor Charles Patricelli says he looks forward to working with Rice, calling him “honest and straightforward.”
“You work as a team, and you have to have the trust in your leadership. And when the chiefs, any of the chiefs, come to me, or, you know, talk to me about things, you know, you got to be able to listen to not only the opinions, but recommendations,” Patricelli said. “They’re the experts at a lot of what I'm not.”
Patricelli, a Democrat, says building relationships with the community is like parenting.
“As a parent, you can't be the best friend. You know, they're friends. You got to be able to be respected. And I think that's very important,” Patricelli said. “It's great to be able to be a part and be fun, but I think they got to be respected, and they got to be able to be out there in the community. The community's got to be able to see that we have great cops and they're out there for us.”
Rice says in his first week in the new role, he’s already learned a lot about how the department operates as officers sought to make arrests in a stabbing and investigated the suspicious death of a 2-year-old.