Mayor Kathy Sheehan and Police Chief Brendan Cox are continuing a series of "community conversations" about building safer neighborhoods in Albany.
Tuesday night's gathering at New Scotland Elementary School was the third of seven. "I'm going to start off by saying simply this. Any shot that is fired in our city is one too many," said Cox, who came back on the force for a second stint as chief for this last year of Mayor Sheehan’s term.
"It's just always good to get out, talk to people, have open, frank, honest conversations, and make sure that we're all on the same page," Cox said. "I don't think I can just sit in my office. I don't think I can just interact with my officers. Well, yeah, that's important. We have to be able to interact with the public and make sure that we're working together, and make sure that we understand what the public expects from us. The public understands the barriers that we're facing and that we work together to solve problems."
Cox and Sheehan shared crime statistics with the audience. Cox says shots fired incidents dropped to 124 in 2024 from 152 in 2023. Shootings were down from 57 to 55. 180 guns were recovered in 2024 and 108 arrests associated arrests were made. They say overall crime is down by 21% compared to where it was in 2013.
Sheehan says Albany's population (and tax base) has grown, surpassing 101,000 in recent years. She adds the city has seen a 25% reduction in the poverty rate over the last 11 years, her three terms.
Residents like Connie Thomas and Tom Moore said the event demonstrated that city leaders are accessible and approachable.
"I thought the meeting was very informative. It talked about the crime that was in Albany, the city of Albany, not just this neighborhood, but the entire city. It talked about the issues with homelessness and people of poverty," Thomas said.
"I run the neighborhood group Whitehall Road Neighborhood Connection. So it's quite important for each neighborhood to have these meetings and to see what other people in other neighborhoods are doing, and maybe to work together and address each other's needs and problems," said Moore.
Sheehan says meetings held to date have been productive.
"People are asking really good questions. I think that they are appreciative of the information that we're providing, and they're learning about some of the strategies that we're implementing to address challenges around homelessness, around people with mental illness, and so they're appreciative of that, and also wanting to ensure that we know that they want to have as many police officers as we can in our community, and we're working to add to the department, and that they are really supportive of the work that this police department does," Sheehan said.
The next "community conversation" is set for 6 p.m. April 9th at the Pine Hills Elementary School on North Allen Street.
