The City of Albany welcomed back Brendan Cox on Monday, this time as interim police chief.

“To the police in the room, I’ve missed you guys,” Cox said.

Nearly eight years after retiring, the former Albany police chief was sworn in to serve again through 2025, following the departure of Eric Hawkins, who served six years in the job and left to become police commissioner in Warren, Michigan.

“He is going to step back into this role and see the hard work, the dedication, the commitment and the support that he will have as he leads this department over the next year,” Mayor Kathy Sheehan said.

Born and raised in Albany, the 23-year-veteran of the city police force left in 2017 and accepted a job in law enforcement assisted diversion. He arrives as Albany attorney Lee Kindlon prepares to assume the position of Albany County's first new district attorney in 20 years.

“I’m really looking forward to working with him because he’s going to be able to combine all this practical real-world knowledge he has, with some new ways of driving down the crime rate and making sure everyone feels safe,” Kindlon said.

Cox said he looks forward to working with the public, the city and county leaders to enhance public safety.

“I know there’s a lot of barriers, I know we have hiring retention issues, I know we have issues of violence," Cox said. "We will tackle those together, and we will ultimately continue to make this a city where people want to live, work, visit and enjoy.”