(clockwise
from top left) 2004 started on a tragic note, with
mourning for David Scaringe, who was shot and killed
by Albany police on the afternoon of New Year’s Eve
as he passed by a standoff on Lark Street between
police and a man who had fled a traffic stop; (l-r)
Albany Police Chief Robert Wolfgang and Public Safety
Commissioner John C. Nielsen took a lot of heat early
in the year over the death of Scaringe, the firing
of Cmdr. Christian D’Alessandro, and questions about
overtime and the use of seized-asset funds. Both men
left their positions in the spring, saying it had
nothing to do with the controversies; in mid-February,
Albany also lost Lt. John Finn, who had been shot
while chasing a suspect just before Christmas last
year. Finn was universally loved and respected, and
his death was particularly hard on his fellow officers,
who had kept a rotating vigil at the hospital since
he was shot; popular APD Cmdr. Christian D’Alessandro
was fired in January, kicking up a storm of protest
from members of the communities he had been serving;
on June 15, members of Arbor Hill’s Community Accountability
Board (Charles LeCourt, Bill Paine, Barbara Smith,
and Victor Collier pictured, l-r), which worked with
quality-of-life offenders, announced the board’s collective
resignation after DA Paul Clyne fired community prosecutor
David Soares; then-Ten Broeck Triangle resident Helen
Black was one of a group who appeared monthly at Albany’s
Common Council for the first half of the year to appeal
to the council to look into the matter of D’Alessandro’s
firing and other police administration issues.
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