Phyllis Banks, the Albany Police Department’s media relations manager, has been jailed following a domestic violence incident today, jail and police sources say.
Banks was booked into the Doughery County Jail at 5:55 p.m. on a charge of battery, a misdemeanor. No bond was immediately set.
Police Chief John Proctor and City Manager Alfred Lott did not immediately respond to an email seeking information about Banks’ arrest.
Banks is a former WFXL-TV reporter. She was hired by former Police Chief James Younger, who was forced to resign amid a rocky tenure that included having a romantic relationship with Banks.
The Younger-Banks relationship was a personnel policy violation by Younger that Lott permitted, even after it was publicly exposed. City employees are not allowed to date their subordinates. Additionally, Younger periodically thrust Banks in the position of defending and commenting on Youngers’ ethical transgressions.
Also during her tenure with the Police Department, Banks had a romantic relationship with a police officer, against whom she filed a protective order.
