The man who is in line to be Albany's next Police Chief meets with Mayor Kathy Sheehan and the media about his nomination.
Eric Hawkins is the current Chief in Southfield, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. Crime in that community has decreased by 45% since he became the chief, and Hawkins says that he's well equipped to face Albany's recent spike in deadly violence, "I know what it looks like. I know the fundamentals of addressing issues like this, and I know that you can't arrest your way out of these types of problems. We can flood the streets with police if we want, but that's not necessarily the answer."
Sheehan says Hawkins impressed her with a clear strategy, "His commitment to the well-being of the officers and civilians in the department, there are a lot of layers to that. That means a lot of different things have to be in place in order to accomplish that."
Albany's Common Council still needs to confirm Hawkins in his position.