Albany police chief: Troubled communities must be fixed to help lower crime

ALBANY – Crime in Albany has gone up and down the past few years. The Albany police chief says the issue of rundown, abandoned homes can play a role in the numbers.

The Albany Police Department sent NewsChannel 13 crime statistics for murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault, to name a few.

13 Investigates asked for the numbers from 2018 to 2021, because we also looked into the connection between blight and crime back in 2018.

The total amount of crimes across Albany is just under 4,000 in 2018. Then it dropped significantly in 2019 to about 3,600. It went down by another 100 the following year in 2020, then climbed back up in 2021.

The Albany police chief says the COVID-19 pandemic played a role in the recent increase because of the shutdowns.

However, what are the other reasons for total numbers all constantly remaining in the 3,000 range, and in what communities are these crimes happening?

We focused our most recent story on blight in the West Hill and South End neighborhoods, because that’s where the majority of the rundown and abandoned homes are centrally located in Albany.

The police chief did not want to single out any areas. However, he says it’s no secret there is a correlation between communities that have challenges with social issues, and crime and quality of life issues.

Learn about what the chief says needs to be done to help address this, by watching the video of Tessa Bentulan’s story.