Changes need to be made in Cohoes as the community struggles with violence, according to city leaders. It comes after violence that includes a recent fight outside a funeral home where a wake was taking place.

Police Chief Todd Waldin and Mayor Bill Keeler talked about that fight at a common council meeting on Monday evening.

Officers have started charging parents with failing to control their children, according to Waldin. One person asked how the city planned to curb violence moving forward.

It starts with landlords on Main Street being more careful with who they let into their buildings, according to Keeler.

“It doesn’t seem that they vet the people that they’re taking into these units,” said Keeler.

“There is a new concentration of poverty down there and we have concentrations of poverty. This crime follows poverty.”

“We have four brand-new officers who just graduated the academy that are in the middle of field training right now. They’re moving along the field training faster probably than anyone I can remember in recent times,” said Waldin. “So we expect to have four more officers added.”

No serious injuries were reported from the fight outside the funeral home.