-Republished with corrections on May 26, 2022

During the April 4th Albany City Council meeting, a controversial new version of the resolution that would establish an Albany Policing Commission was brought before the Council after going through a negotiations process with the City’s police union. The change would have given the city manager the power to approve or deny potential recommendations for independent investigations into complaints against the police, rather than the City Council.

This proposal inspired much opposition from the public, and from Council Member Ge’Nell Gary, especially. On the proposal of this new amendment, Gary said “I don’t like the fact that it looks like to the public that we went behind the scenes to make changes without even consulting them [and the Albany Community Task Force on Policing]. And so now the task force along with the public has an outcry because they feel like we have duped them in a way that is beneficial for us and not for the community. So I am appalled by what has happened.” Gary criticized what she considered a lack of transparency because the Community Task Force on Policing was not consulted before the change was proposed.

Public commenters included KZ Zapata, chair of the Social and Economic Justice Commission; Jeremiah Garret-Pinguelo and Kathy Rai, members of the Social and Economic Justice Commission; and Gregory Downs, Matthew Hamity, and Tom Newton, members of the Community Task Force on Policing. They all took issue with the fact that the proposed change would give the Albany city manager, the chief of police, and the city attorney authority to review recommendations for policing commission investigations before they are presented to the city council. They argued that giving this power to City staff as opposed to the Council would obstruct the policing commission’s independence, which is crucial to an effective oversight body.

Some also pointed to City Manager Nicole Almaguer’s marriage to a police officer, calling it a conflict of interest. They questioned whether Almaguer could give an unbiased review of recommendations for investigations, as called for by the newly proposed amendment. In response, City Attorney Mala Subramanian noted that there is no legal conflict of interest and that the city manager can participate in this process, should it be approved by the City Council.

This debate comes amidst growing national attention on the lack of accountability and oversight of the police when they are involved in acts of misconduct. Studies have shown that officers involved in shootings are “more than 51% as likely to shoot [again] during the [15-year study period].” These repeated shootings may happen because of a lack of consistent oversight of police conduct. Solutions to this problem have come primarily in the form of police oversight boards. There are now approximately 160 such bodies in the United States, up from just 7 in 1975, according to the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement (NACOLE). But major gaps remain in accountability.

The killing of Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky, illustrates this problem. Louisville had an existing police accountability entity, but it didn’t have the power to investigate her death. The civilian oversight board could only review closed police cases and fatal incidents and had no power to conduct independent investigations. According to an ABC News article, of the 160 civilian oversight entities in the United States, only 40% have the power to subpoena witnesses. And, only 41% can subpoena records, severely limiting the already restricted investigative powers they may have had. Without independent oversight, investigations are left to internal affairs units which are restricted by agreements with police unions.

Civilian oversight entities can be very effective, but not without strong investigative powers and independence, according to NACOLE. The association lists independence, or separation from “all groups in order to garner trust by being unbiased,” and access to all critical pieces, including “all necessary information and evidence in an investigation,” as features of an effective police oversight body.

Vice-Mayor Aaron Tiedemann proposed an amendment that would put final authority for approval of outside investigators with the City Council after review and input the city manager, attorney and police chief. Following further debate, the Albany City Council took up two motions. The first was to proceed with the new amendment to meet and confer with the police union. It was brought by Tiedemann and seconded by Council Member Peggy McQuaid. Mayor Preston Jordan introduced a second motion to send the amendment to the Community Task Force on Policing for review. The motion was seconded by Gary. The second motion was carried by a 4-1 vote with Council Member McQuaid voting no.

Moving forward, the new amendment will be reviewed by the task force in their last meeting. The task force’s recommendation will be presented to the City Council, which will then vote on how to proceed.

–Alex Li