Albany mayoral candidates talk police recruitment

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -59 officers; that’s how many the Albany Police Department is trying to hire. It holds two tests a year and the current mayor said it’s not an issue of money but finding people who want to wear the badge.

“We’ve gotta continue to work on ensuring that people have a stronger sense of safety in our city. Part of that is getting more feet on the street,” Mayor Kathy Sheehan described over Zoom.

So, how does the next peotential mayor make that happen? NEWS10’s Anthony Krolikowski sat down with all four democratic candidates to hear their plans. 

Carolyn McLaughlin: “Lets turn it into a continuous recruitment process. Also, I believe that maybe we can provide some tax incentives for officers. Particularly, join the force and live in the city of Albany.”

Dorcey Applyrs: “Police officers should not have to deal with every public safety challenge and so social workers I think would be better positioned to help someone who is struggling with a mental health crisis or substance use crisis on our streets. In addition, I would like to stand up a Office of Violence Prevention.”

Dan Cerutti: “We’ve made the job harder while making the city less attractive. We have an issue with pay, we have an issue with the pension cap, we have an issue with morale. We need to do a lot to shore up the ranks and shore up the morale and give them the support they need.”

Corey Ellis: “Provide sign-on bonus incentives. We would’ve been in these schools, in our sixth grade middle schools, training our young people hopefully for that profession. So that way, they live in the city, born and raised in the city, and they get to see how these professions are very valuable.”