An Open Letter to Albany Police Chief Steven Krokoff

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12/4/2014

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Chief Krokoff,
Yesterday, crowded in a room with nearly three hundred concerned citizens and a handful of
apathetic police officers, I listened to you address the community at a forum ostensibly
designed to help build relationships between men of color and the Albany Police Department.
Perhaps it was the fact that hours earlier police officers in New York City were not indicted
for the wrongful death of Eric Garneror perhaps it was because a similar decision
surrounding Michael Brown's murder still weighed heavily on our mindsbut your words did
not resonate. In fact, far from feeling any sort of relationships being built, I felt alienated,
disappointed, and dismissed by your haughty and out-of-touch approach to community
outreach. In subsequent discussions immediately following the forum, many of my peers
echoed this sentiment.
It became apparent while hearing you speak (somewhat defensively) of the department, that
the progress The Albany Police Department has made in the past few years since youve
become chief has likely been stifled by your own frame of mind and lack of understanding of
community issues. This is not to imply that police/community relations havent improved with
the implementation of your oft touted neighborhood based policing. It just means that
many of us wonder what COULD have been, had you been more in-tune with the concerns of
the people youve been charged with protecting and serving. Many of the concerned citizens
that left that hot, crowded, room last night departed with a sense that you arent an ally to
people of color. That should be a concern to you.
Ill be extremely specific because I truly feel youre oblivious to any impropriety on your part.
Yesterday evening you entered into a discussion with predominantly Black families, business
owners, and residents who were physically shaken by a string of tragic events followed by an
equally long string of injustices. With news cameras rolling, you took the opportunity to tell
community members what THEY could do better to prevent themselves from being abused by
the policeparent better, report crime better, cooperate better, etc. You estimated that in
your opinion 99% of all police entered the force with the intention of protecting and serving
all citizens of a given community. You neglected to mention that institutions of law
enforcement in the United States quickly indoctrinate that generous estimate of well-meaning
recruits into a culture of systemic racism. This systemic racism continues to fuel incidents of
police brutality and racial profiling. You also failed to acknowledge that much more than 1%
of your police department has likely committed injustices to the citizens theyve been sworn
to protect since youve become chief. This is EVEN AFTER several community members stood
up to recount their own stories of police abuse and harassment. You then had the audacity to
say that there are two sides to police harassment, as if to imply that there are times when
this abuse is justified.

The people in that room, Chief Krokoff, were not there to vent our frustrations about
questionable cases of police discretion. The people in that room, myself included, were
there to express our exasperation at how many of the police officers under your supervision
continue to willfully violate the trust, privacy, and rights of people of color throughout our
city. We did that with full knowledge that our community is far from the worst in terms of
racially motivated police abuse. The Albany Police Department, while commendable in some
areas, still has a long way to go. Im sorry to inform you that if this is your best effort, its
simply not good enough. Im aware of at least one officer in that room last night who does
not deserve to have a badge. As long as you continue to protect him, and other officers guilty
of similar crimes (and lets not mince words; they are in fact crimes against the people), Im
not overly optimistic that you can do better. If my fellow community members have one task
worth undertaking, its making sure that we use all the tools at our disposal to put pressure
on our police department so that ALL men and women patrolling the city may conduct
themselves in a manner deemed professional and fair.
Since the purpose of yesterdays meeting was to share ideas between men of color and the
police, I would like to offer a bit of advice. You may want to reconsider conveying your
side of police interactions with people of color as an attempt to give perspective to our
personal experiences with law enforcement. As you and Deputy Chief Cox rattled off
anecdotesone about receiving a gift from a grateful community member, and one about
being called a White devil by anotherI couldnt help but feel insulted. Men and women
had just finished telling accounts of being beaten, detained, profiled, harassed, and robbed
by police officers; and quite frankly your side pales in comparison. Being a police officer is
no doubt a very dangerous and precarious job. So is being a Black man. Keep in mind that
the people you were engaging with last night are people who suffer from being grouped in
with every unsavory criminal you encounter, combined with the preexisting prejudice and bias
of the entire criminal justice system. Any stories you have to share can never explain,
rationalize, or justify the many abuses our community continues to endure.
Use this moment to listen and respond to our concerns. Use this moment to recognize your
shortcomings as chief, and the departments shortcomings as a whole. Use this moment to
(briefly) celebrate your accomplishments thus far. It would mean a lot to some people in this
community to simply hear it acknowledged that the courts and many law enforcement
officers in Albany (and indeed nationwide) treat people with White skin different than people
with non-White skin. Until that is agreed upon, lasting change cannot come about. Your
stories will continue to fall on the deaf ears of a tired people, who are too fed up to entertain
your extrinsic vantage point.
Its worth mentioning that one part of your speech really did stick with me. You stated how
you longed for the feeling of unity and solidarity immediately following the terrorist attacks
of 9/11when we all swelled with a feeling of pride and self-preservation in the face of a
common enemy. Unfortunately, you failed to realize the irony of the situation, since thats
exactly the feeling that brought so many of us to that crowded room in the first place.
-M. Andrews