Hiring a Police Chief Who is Dedicated to Community Policing

The Albany Police Department has been ineffective at combating this city's gun violence crisis , where over a half-dozen homicides occurring in Albany every year. In the summer of 2008, urban violence stole the life of a 10 year old girl in the West Hill neighborhood four blocks from Downtown Campus/Draper Hall. Last fall, this city's gun violence leaked into the middle class neighborhood of Pine Hills, resulting in the murder of SUNY Albany student Richard Bailey.

Why is this violence occurring??? One answer is that the City’s last Police Chief, James Tuffey, pulled the great majority of community police officers (beat cops who consistently patrol neighborhoods by foot and get to know the community) out of their neighborhoods. Think about it: when’s the last time a friendly officer on the street greeted you? In effect, all relationships between residents and police officers have been sacrificed for a policing strategy of patrol car technology and ability for several cars to quickly pounce to the scene once a crime has occurred.

Chief Tuffey was forced to resign this September after a public controversy concerning his comment that the lives of White citizens and murder victims in Albany are valued more than the lives of Blacks. ( http://archives.timesunion.com/mweb/wmsql.wm.request?oneimage&imageid=8603557 ) The city has yet to hire a new Police Chief.

Demanding that the next Chief is without bias and committed to preventing violence is not all we’re asking for. This city needs Community Policing policies that foster trust and partnership between communities and their police. Hard working noble citizens in Albany do not feel respected or trust this city’s police, especially in economically oppressed communities of color. Students do not feel safe off campus. All of this can, and must, change with the hiring a Police Chief who is deeply committed to Community Policing. Now is our chance to ensure that the next Chief is exactly that. If we, as students, fail to mobilize a strong voice for Community Policing, the status quo will likely prevail, and the city will continue to be dangerous for inner city residents as well as college students.