By JAIRED CROFUT
Staff Writer
On Wednesday evening November 2 Albany Police Chief Steven Krokoff and Assistant Chief Brendan J. Cox addressed a crowd at the Council of Albany Neighborhood Association about new police initiatives to fight crime. One plan that involves the use of a neighborhood engagement program was met with high praise.
The concept is that each neighborhood around the city of Albany will be assigned an officer who knows the neighborhood and is in tune with the particular problems facing that area. Officers will conduct routine visits to their neighborhoods and establish what is referred to as a ‘beat’. So far there are more than 27 beat officers participating in the program.
“We want people to have a go to person instead of calling and getting any officer,” said Krokoff.
The City of Albany is broken up into 18 sections under the program. 27 beat officers are divided up among them. There are three officers assigned to the Pine Hills area.
“Every house in this city has an officer that is assigned to that area,” said Krokoff.
Even though the program has been in existence for roughly over a year and is still considered relatively new, many citizens have already seen a positive change in their communities.
“It’s been a very positive experience for us. The officers have been present in our neighborhood, getting to know people and building relationships,” said Arlene Way, president of the Arbor Hill Neighborhood Association and attendee at the 6:30 p.m. meeting at the Pine Hills branch of the Albany Public Library.
In addition to developing good relationship with the community, the beat officers work in teams. They hold meetings every week in order to discuss better ways to serve the neighborhood. These meetings allow for complaints, such as one house being repeatedly too loud, to be heard and for that information to be promptly passed along to the officer assigned to that area. As the officer is out patrolling he will be able to keep an eye on an area and be present if the problem arises again.
“I think it’s a wonderful program, it’s what we’ve been asking for for years. We’ve asked Mr. Krokoff’s predecessors, we’ve asked the mayor, and we’ve had absolutely no response,” said Daniel Van Ripr, a local citizen of Albany from the Lincoln Park Neighborhood Association.
However, despite the growing feeling of renewed hope expressed by many, there are still concerns that people will not call the police when they need help. Van Ripr has complained that some of his police calls have gone un-responded to in the past and is worried about citizens with similar experiences.
“My whole concern is that people don’t know we have a whole new regime. We have a police department that is now trying to be a police department,” said Van Ripr.
Problems unaddressed by the Albany police force in the past have been the subject of intense debate for years. In a March 1987 issue of the College of Saint Rose student newspaper Inscape, student Debra Eves expressed concerns to the editor about certain neighborhood problems around Clinton Ave such as loud noises late at night and broken down houses.
Given the history of the Albany police force being unresponsive to calls, it is not surprising that Van Ripr is not alone in expressing some doubts about people being aware of important changes happening in the force.
“There really aren’t that many people who are regularly connected and if they are they might be interested in other things,” said John O’Grady, president of the West End Neighborhood Association.
Concerns expressed by those in attendance at the meeting have not gone unheard. Albany police are trying to implement the use of new media such as Twitter and Facebook to better help emergency responses. Police are hoping to encourage dialogue and feedback through Facebook.
“We are on Twitter, we are on Facebook. Which is something we are looking to push really hard,” said Krokoff.
Since his introduction as Police Chief in July 2010, many have hailed Krokoff’s management as the reason behind the recent improvements within the city.
“We’ve seen the difference in the last year,” said Van Ripr.
There is a lot of optimism in the community about the use of social media and the community engagement program. “I think it is something that everybody is very excited about,” said Assistant Chief Cox.
