Chief tries to bridge blue, black
Hawkins discusses balance in backing officers, responding to calls for change
One month ago, Albany Police Chief Eric Hawkins was surrounded by a throng of impassioned protesters in Arbor Hill, demanding answers about holding local police officers accountable for violence against black residents.
He was chided with comments such as, “I’m tired with the political responses,” and “You’re not here to be silent, Chief.” Some people called Hawkins, who is black, a sellout and an Uncle Tom. Eventually, he took the megaphone.
“I get social injustice because I’ve heard the stories from my parents, I’ve heard it from my grandparents, I lived it,” said Hawkins, 52, a married father of an adult son and daughter. “That’s one of the reasons why I wear a uniform. Because change comes from the inside many times in many types of institu
tions … So how do I take what’s personally inside of me and use it to help my organization relate better to my communities?”
The death of George Floyd, a black man who was killed when a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes, has sparked protests against police brutality and systemic racism across the country for the past month. And as civilians hurl criticism at law enforcement for its treatment of black Americans, Hawkins is one of the thousands of law enforcement officers of color who have found themselves in the middle.
He is both black and in uniform. He has experienced racism at the hands of police, but also has respect and admiration for his fellow officers. Hawkins is hearing the exact same cries today that he heard when Rodney King was brutally beaten by Los Angeles police in 1992, when he first joined the Southfield, Mich., police department, but has also seen many improvements in law enforcement in the past 30 years.
“It is the toughest part of my job right now,” Hawkins said. “And what is so exhausting for me is maintaining that balance of supporting my officers, making sure that there are consequences for those officers who do bad things, but also conveying to the community that I do hear and that I do understand, and that I’m not just this token that’s been propped up to appease the black community.”
Some community voices complain that Hawkins’ effort to find balance has led him to sway his stance on certain issues, or refrain from bolder actions on others. He has also drawn criticism for his handling of a March 2019 incident on First Street in which Officer Luke Deer dragged a black man out of his home and beat him when responding to a noise complaint. Hawkins has also been accused of eroding Albany’s community policing program, though the chief insists the program has become more robust under his almost two years of leadership.
Many advocates have also been calling to defund the police, or shift financial resources from the police department to agencies in charge of housing and mental health support to treat the root causes of crime.
“I’m not fundamentally opposed to that,” Hawkins said in a June 17 interview with the Times Union. “I see some value to that. I just think we have to be very careful when we’re talking about diverting funds from policing, that that’s going to impact the basic function of policing.”
But in a follow-up interview four days later, Hawkins said, “I am strongly against any defunding of the police. I think there’s a way to do that and structure our budgetary priorities and still fully fund our police department and fund these other programs to help other entities and individuals.”
Hawkins’ change of heart coincided with the recent spate of violence in Albany, where 36 people have been shot — four fatally — in the month of June so far. The chief pointed to the diminished police presence in the city since early March due to the COVID-19 pandemic as a clear reason violence has surged.
“COVID-19 changed how police departments across this country operate,” he said. “But in the meantime, there are individuals in the community who didn’t care about COVID-19, and they were determined to get retribution for some previous grievances because there would be fewer police out in the streets, fewer witnesses, and they would be able to do these things and potentially get away with it.”
Hawkins sat down with the Times Union to talk about the Black Lives Matter movement, and what it’s like to be a black police chief today. (The transcript was edited for clarity and length.)
Q: Tell me about growing up black, and what the conversation about police was like.
A: In the mid-’70s, we’re just coming out of the civil rights protests of the ’60s. And so things were still raw in terms of relations between police and minorities, especially African-americans. And so growing up, for me, talking with my parents and my uncles and other relatives, the message was, “Try not to antagonize the police; try not to be threatening to the police — because if you are, you may not come home.”
There were some times when I would get stopped, when I was with people. And I would wonder why I was stopped, and they would always tell me, “Oh, no, we just got stopped because we were black.”
I had friends who were harassed or victims of brutality or both, and they would tell the stories about how when they were arrested, the cops would take them someplace and beat them up in the back seat and take them to the station house. But the odd thing about it was it was just accepted.
Q: Why did you decide to be a police officer?
A: My first thought was, why would I want to do this? Everything I’ve heard about policing and law enforcement was that it’s anti-black, was oppressive to people who look like me — well, I don’t want to do that. But then I thought, “Let me change perceptions. Then I can change what (my community’s) realities may be.” And then also, just kind of get inside the institution itself.
Q: Have you seen a change in law enforcement throughout your career? A: I was a rookie cop when the Rodney King riots occurred out of Los Angeles, and I can remember the aftermath. And in hearing what the African-american community said about law enforcement in general back then, no question, the frustration, the anger — they were just upset about the institution of law enforcement. So what’s a little disheartening for me now is that 30 years later, I’m still hearing the same thing. You can almost take the comments that we were hearing 30 years ago, and pan to now from members of the Africanamerican community and they would still fit.
So that’s a little frustrating, but I know that there’s been a lot of progress over the 30 years. I’ve seen a lot in terms of an awareness that the law enforcement community needed to build better bridges with minority communities. I’ve seen programs in place that were designed to do that. I’ve seen, over 30 years, much more diversity in law enforcement. So we’re getting that diversity of thought into law enforcement, where people — especially at the highest levels in law enforcement — are now willing to look at this whole institution and say, “Have we been doing enough? Has there been enough change? Have we really listened to those, particularly in the minority community, about how they want to be policed?”
Q: How do you dismantle systemic racism in an institution that has a long history of brutality toward black people — and in some places in the U.S. traces its origin to policing slaves?
A: In terms of totally dismantling ... I don’t know if that’s realistic at this point. But I think that what certainly can happen is a reimagining of this whole institution. For me, what that means is rethinking the way that we deliver this service.
For so many years, we’ve always thought that it’s an “us vs. them” kind of mentality in law enforcement. And so we’ve had this idea that we that we’ve got to impose a policing style on our communities based on our experience and what we know about safety and security. So I think that a reimagining of the fundamental way of delivering services has to happen. And it doesn’t mean tearing down or dismantling the institution itself. There’s so much good in law enforcement. And we’ve got to preserve that piece of it, but also realize that we may have to make some fundamental adjustments in how we police.
It’s an inescapable fact that for all that we do good in law enforcement, we are having some problems connecting and delivering services to the Africanamerican community. And we’ve got to accept that that fact exists, and then figure out a way to reimagine our total services so that we’re making that part of society feel that they are being policed in a dignified way, in a way that gives them a voice, a way that makes them feel safer, in a way that makes them respect the men and women who are actually helping them to feel safer in our communities.
Q: How do you envision that?
A: Part of the reimagining that I see is, no matter how good the service delivery is, no matter how great the relationship is with the community, every few years, let’s bring all the stakeholders back and let’s talk. What type of changes have we seen over the last three years or four years or so? And what type of changes are necessary or adjustments are necessary considering the discussions that we had?
There are two things that really stand out to me, and that is assessing the role of police officers in policing social issues: We’re talking mental health, substance abuse, homelessness, unhealthy family structures. I think a major reform that can change fundamentally policing is having systems in place that minimize the context that police officers are having in those situations. Because in many use-of-force situations, especially those that escalate to lethal force, we’re saying that they started off with some sort of interaction or intervention with a police officer with some sort of social issue. Maybe if we had somebody else who could have dealt with that, before it escalated to that point, maybe that would have resolved the situation instead of a police officer becoming involved.
The other thing I think is needed — and is probably going to happen — is
some national standards in terms of use of force. There are some best practices that are out there by some of the major police organizations, but nothing that standardizes codes of conduct with major issues that police officers handle on a day-to-day basis. In which case you end up seeing these issues being handled differently in different states and cities. What that leads to is confusion and distrust.
Q: What do you think
about the recent surge of violence in the city, in the context of these calls to address the root causes of crime?
A: It’s been very unsettling. We’re seeing something very different this year. COVID-19 changed how police departments across this country operate. It changed how the Albany Police Department interacted with the community. We went almost three months where we had almost minimal contact with the community. We didn’t have face-to-face interaction for over three months.
What we’re seeing right now is clear: The aftermath of those grievances that were taking place during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s resulted in retaliation for some of those. With each incident that we’ve seen, we suspect that the following ones have some sort of retaliation element to them. The total dynamics changed in terms of interactions and interventions in our community. It wasn’t just the police: our recreation department, education — it was so few face-to-face interactions and interventions that we’re starting to see the aftermath for that.
Q: What do you think about the frustration of protesters in regard to holding police officers accountable?
A: As an African-american man, I know the sense of urgency. And I know why there are people who are saying that we’re tired of waiting. And we want to see some tangible results, and we want to see them right now. But on the other hand, working in this institution for 30 years, I understand that we’re not going to change it so fast. But we could make some incremental steps to make a change, and to make a big change over time.
My challenge is to help those who feel disenfranchised and victimized by law enforcement to see that there is some progress being made. They hear it coming from me and they think, “Well, you’re just another black guy who got a position and things are good for you, and you forgot how it was on the streets and you forgot the pain and frustration of people who look like you.”
When we had the protests out here, I heard the calls of being a sellout and being an Uncle Tom and just a token. I hear and I understand, and it’s painful to hear that, especially when I know that I have worked so hard to help this institution to understand the African-american community over the years. But it’s hard to convey change that’s not real visible, and that’s not proceeding at a pace that people want to see.
Q: What is it like to be a black police chief in the midst of the Black Lives Matter movement?
A: It’s just so exhausting right now. And it’s almost like I’m caught right smack in the middle. It’s painful to hear that my officers may not feel that they’re getting the support that they need during a time like this. And it’s painful to hear that members of the Africanamerican community feel that I’m not listening, that I don’t care, that I’ve just sold out the community. Those things are both painful to deal with, and so I’ve got to accept that to maintain this balance. And sometimes it’s hard to walk that middle ground because you end up antagonizing both sides. I still have to be a law enforcement executive that’s fair, and I still have to be a person that people in the African-american community can look to and say, “Well, he did it. He’s there. He understands. He’s making a difference in helping with change at the pace that he can within the system that