Albany Police Chief Eric Hawkins in April 2021, displaying police footage of an altercation between police and protesters at the city's South Station. (Will Waldron/Times Union)
Albany Police Chief Eric Hawkins was interviewed twice last summer by T&M USA, the firm commissioned by the Albany Community Police Review Board to investigate the police response to a protest at South Station on April 14, 2021 — a demonstration that resulted in a broken window — and the decision eight days later to demolish an encampment that aggrieved protesters set up on Arch Street.
According to the report's four-page summary of what the chief told them, here are the things he claimed he could not recall:
What had prompted the initial South Station protest; who had told him about it; who the commander of South Station was at the time; what protester Chandler Hickenbottom had been saying through a megaphone just before Lt. Devin Anderson — who refused to be interviewed by T&M despite being served with a subpoena — allegedly bashed her in the mouth with the device as he attempted to remove it; what the Arch Street protesters were demanding; whom the chief appointed to serve as a liaison to the protesters; whether he had offered the protesters an alternate location for the encampment; whether he saw any examples of police officers allegedly being "doxxed" on social media in the days after the South Station melee; who had told him about this alleged doxxing, and whether the department had investigated it (the report found no evidence of it); who his deputy chiefs had been in April 2021; to which of his deputy chiefs and commanders the chief had given the direction that officers taking part in the April 22 takedown of the encampment could remove their name tags but not their badges; the contents of the "pre-operational order" for the takedown of the encampment; and who the incident commander was for the takedown.
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Asked by T&M investigators if the department had ever used bear spray on protesters, the chief responded, "We haven't had bears in the city of Albany." A footnote points out that a bear sighting — one of several involving ursine visitors to the city over the course of Chief Hawkins' tenure — had prompted calls to his department only weeks before the interview.
Many of these apparent memory gaps could have been filled in if the chief had reacquainted himself with the findings of the 2022 confidential report prepared by his own Office of Professional Standards. T&M actually asked Chief Hawkins if he had decided against rereading that report "even though you knew we were going to talk about it."
"Yes, correct," Mr. Hawkins said. Another footnote says the chief "was interviewed on two separate occasions and did not review the OPS report before either of his interviews."
While the chief's alarmingly poor recall might be something for him to discuss with a neurologist, we are considerably more concerned with his apparent choice to do as little as possible to prepare for his sessions with the Review Board's outside investigators. It is indicative of a surpassing disrespect for that panel's work as well as the public's right to know about the department's abundant missteps in the South Station/Arch Street episode.
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The T&M report found numerous violations of the department's policies, from Lt. Anderson's use of force against Ms. Hickenbottom and officers' use of pepper spray to the display of "Blue Lives Matter" flags and decorations, which even the chief admitted was "inappropriate and against guidelines." On the day of the takedown, the department failed to use its own deescalation policies and allowed officers to conceal their identities from the public — a practice more in keeping with law enforcement in an autocracy. After the takedown, the department failed to thoroughly investigate citizen complaints in a timely fashion and neglected to interview civilians as part of its slipshod internal review.
To be very clear: The First Amendment does not allow for property destruction or using force in an attempt to enter a public building, whether it's the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, or South Station three months later. But the general public should expect better from law enforcement than the wrongdoing detailed in the T&M report. More to the point, the citizens of Albany deserve better than the response to this episode they have received from their chief of police.
Chief Hawkins reports to Mayor Kathy Sheehan, who in the week since the release of the report has been conspicuously subdued on its findings. Which may mean she hasn't bothered to read it, would rather not offer up her thoughts, or — similar to the chief — has a hazy memory of the whole sorry episode, and would prefer not to have it refreshed.
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Editorial: What Chief Hawkins can't recall
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21.03.2024
Albany Police Chief Eric Hawkins in April 2021, displaying police footage of an altercation between police and protesters at the city's South Station. (Will Waldron/Times Union)
Albany Police Chief Eric Hawkins was interviewed twice last summer by T&M USA, the firm commissioned by the Albany Community Police Review Board to investigate the police response to a protest at South Station on April 14, 2021 — a demonstration that resulted in a broken window — and the decision eight days later to demolish an encampment that aggrieved protesters set up on Arch Street.
According to the report's four-page summary of what the chief told them, here are the things he claimed he could not recall:
What had prompted the initial South Station protest; who had told him about it; who the commander of South Station was at the time; what protester Chandler Hickenbottom had been saying through a megaphone just before Lt. Devin Anderson — who refused to be interviewed by T&M despite being served with a subpoena — allegedly bashed her in the mouth with the device as he attempted to remove it; what the Arch Street protesters were demanding; whom the chief appointed to serve as a liaison to the protesters; whether he had........
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