Albany Police Department Racial Bias Audit

The Office of Audit and Control contracted with CNA to conduct a racial bias audit of the Albany Police Department (APD) to examine APD’s internal operations, policies and procedures to detect the presence of disparities in implicit racial biases. 

The data retrieved and analyzed through the audit process evaluated APD’s policies, initiatives and practices that impact Albany residents, in particular, Black residents. As well as to provided the administration with baseline information to inform the City of Albany’s response to Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s Executive Order No. 203: New York State Police Reform and Reinvention Collaborative. Executive Order No. 203 mandates the administration perform a comprehensive review of current police force deployments, strategies, policies, procedures, and practices, and develop a plan to improve such deployments, strategies, policies, procedures, and practices, for the purposes of addressing the particular needs of the communities served by such police agency and promote community engagement to foster trust, fairness, and legitimacy, and to address any racial bias and disproportionate policing of communities of color. 

Audit Documents


Timeline

  • Request for proposals (RFP) solicitation - July 10, 2020
  • Press conference to announce CNA as the firm to conduct audit - August 24, 2020 
  • Preliminary report released for public input - Nov. 5 - 11, 2020
  • CNA team revised preliminary report - Nov. 11- 20, 2020 
  • CNA team presented preliminary audit report findings to Police Reform & reinvention Collaborative - November 17, 2020
  • CNA submitted final audit report to Chief City Auditor, Mayor and Police Chief - Nov 20, 2020 
  • Presentation of findings to Mayor and Police Chief  - Dec 2, 2020 
  • Presentation of findings to the Albany Common Council - Dec 2, 2020 at 5:30 pm  
  • Presentation of findings to the police department - Dec 3, 2020  
  • Presentation of findings to the community - Dec 3, 2020 at  6:00 pm