Albany Chief Departs; City Records Name Two Different Mayors | The Locally Times
After more than eight years, Albany's longest-serving police chief in four decades will leave in December. City records from the same week attribute official announcements to two different mayors.
## Hawkins to Leave for Michigan Position A February 25, 2026, news flash from the City of Albany announced Police Chief Eric Hawkins will depart the department at the beginning of December 2026. He will become the Police Commissioner for the Warren Police Department in Michigan. Appointed Chief of the Albany Police Department (APD) in September 2018, Hawkins is the longest-serving individual in that role in more than 40 years. Before his appointment in Albany, Hawkins was the Chief of the Southfield, Michigan police department, a position he assumed in 2012. The city's announcement did not provide a timeline or plan for selecting his successor. ## A Tenure of Departmental Changes The city's announcement credited Hawkins’s tenure with navigating the COVID-19 pandemic and implementing policing reforms recommended by the City’s Policing Reform and Reinvention Collaborative. City records also credit his leadership with a decrease in shootings and an increase in the recovery of illegal guns, which records do not quantify. Under Hawkins, the APD established what the city's announcement describes as New York State’s largest Crime Analysis Center. New initiatives cited in the announcement include an internationally-recognized Therapy Dog Program, a Community Liaison Partnership for recruit training, a paid Police Cadet Program, a Civilian Auxiliary Program, and the integration of social workers into police operations. The announcement also notes his oversight of infrastructure upgrades, including the construction of a new 911 dispatch center. ## Conflicting Records on Mayoral Leadership The February 25 news flash attributes the departure announcement to Mayor Kathy Sheehan and Chief Hawkins. However, a separate news flash posted to the City of Albany website on February 24, 2026, attributes a legislative proposal regarding inclusionary zoning to Mayor Dr. Dorcey L. Applyrs. This discrepancy extends to other official city web pages. The city’s RSS feed subscription page, reviewed on February 25, lists a newsroom for Mayor Dorcey Applyrs as a selectable category for public notifications. The official records from the City of Albany therefore attribute mayoral announcements to two different people within a 24-hour period. The city has not posted any documents that clarify the leadership discrepancy.