Anchorage has taken another step towards approving a radical new proposal that could grant a select group of citizens the power to wield oversite authority of police and first responders.
On Nov. 20, the so-called “Task Force to Reimagine the Public Safety Commission” will convene its final meeting to finalize draft recommendations for the proposed Anchorage Public Safety Commission. The draft will then be submitted to the Assembly for final approval.
The final draft reflects many key priorities laid out by radical leftwing groups such as Black Live Matter, which favor “community-controlled policing” wherein certain community members have extensive authority and influence over local police forces.
Conservatives have been critical of these types of initiatives, as they often draw key police resources away from actual enforcement in order to focus on DEI initiatives and a litany of other left-leaning priorities.
The 16-member Anchorage task force (see list here) consists of prominent leftwing activists, nonprofit leaders and politicians. It’s latest draft was released on Nov. 17. It states that the proposed Anchorage Public Safety Commission shall serve as an “independent community body” that conducts “system-review, evaluation” and potential “oversite functions” of Anchorage police and first responders.
Proposed duties for the commission include reviewing public safety policies, data, engagement strategies, “systemic issues,” and soliciting community input regarding safety, homelessness, crisis response and other safety concerns.
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The commission might also issue recommendations to the mayor and assembly, conduct system-level reviews of completed cases, identify trends, evaluate system-level problems and prepare annual public reports to summarize its findings and recommendations.
The draft entails three possible levels of authority for the citizen commission. Option A is “advisory only,” wherein the commission reviews policies, data and other issues but would not examine individual cases or hold investigatory or subpoena powers, nor would the commission handle public complaints.
Option B would allow the commission to review cases once investigations are complete and request information from public safety departments.
The most extensive version, Option C, would empower the commission to actually oversee public safety departments by receiving complaints from the public, monitoring the status of active cases, issuing subpoenas and conducting follow up investigations of closed cases. It would also grant the commission “enhanced access to information for oversight purposes,” and the power to identify “systemic patterns requiring policy or practice changes.”
Per the Anchorage Assembly, the 9-to-13-member commission must include individuals with “lived experience, youth perspectives, BIPOC, behavioral/mental health expertise,” and so-called “diverse communities, groups and cultures.”
All commission members would be appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the Assembly to serve three-year terms. These members would receive training in “confidentiality, trauma-informed practice, and culturally responsive engagement.”
The plan is to give the commission financial resources to carry out its mission. This includes a dedicated staff person to help with operations and public engagement.
LEARN MORE
— Click here to read the draft proposal.
The upcoming task force meeting is scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 20, from 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. It will be held in-person at the Learning Commons, located on the fourth floor of the Anchorage Public Library (3600 Denali Street). Meeting agenda and draft recommendations are now live on the webpage for public review.
15 Comments
Are there factual cases (not just rumors, innuendo, or hearsay) of Anchorage police misconduct, brutality/excessive use of force when interacting with minorities or anyone else occurring or is this a solution in search of a problem? The FBI is the primary federal agency that investigates violations of federal civil rights statutes, including those committed by law enforcement. Additionally, the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division investigates law enforcement agencies for widespread misconduct. If federal civil rights are being violated, then we don’t need to reinvent the wheel.
DC/STATE/Rockefeller “BLM” Bureau of Land Management: “In GOD we Trust” Gold-Oil-Diamond in Trail of Tears & No Homeland. Humanity’s Traditional Culture “Dialect”, has been misused & deleted BUY & 4-GOVT 1871/1886-@Present.
Handing the Management of the Anchorage Police to these Radical nuts will lead to the following:
A mass exodus by good officers. Issues hiring new officers!
Police that hesitate to do their Sworn Duty Because of optics rather than The Law. Fear of losing everything based on the judgement of a radical racist bunch of Activist.
The city will become more crime ridden and Less safe. Causing people to leave the city faster than already occurring. Trust in the police will also suffer and cause even more of the above. Voting for Marxist Morons has a price that you are about to pay.
Anchorage is working very hard to be annexed by Seattle and Portland. What a garbage hole it has become.
This kind of policy is a direct result of voter non-participation in elections and the communist left being installed. EAGLEXIT can not come soon enough and then we can regulate this insanity to Anchorage proper. The loss of the Police rce will be a boon for those of East of the city. EAGLEXIT should also look at restricting the APD from the Glenn Highway corridor.
Boy to read the title of the article with all he buzzwords to make certain folks mad you would think what is being proposed is unreasonable. After reading the article my question is what you would have proposed differently? I know you are struggling to survive but at least act like you want people to understand the real concerns. C’mon do better Joel. SMH
The assembly worked very hard to defund the police in 2020 & 2021, but it did not work, so now they are (and have been) trying to control and hamstring the work of the police. Do you know that there used to be a Public Safety Advisory Commission? But the members were not of the “defund the police” kind and had to apply through a process, be vetted, and then brought before the assembly for confirmation. That was all too cumbersome and had too many potential pitfalls and public scrutiny, so they initiated a task force where anybody would just volunteer to participate. And as is so often the case, the conservatives stayed home and left it to the far left leaning people to fill the positions and come up with this stuff. As so many have said: elections have consequences – so does not getting involved in your local community.
Let the Anchorageexit begin
translation : put the criminals in charge.
how cute.
Learn how to defend yourself.
Get a CCW and become proficient
Locked and loaded. It’s a scary place Anchorage.
Please, re imagine these dolts who wrote this behind bars. Leave the Police in Anchorage alone.
They are like the ANTIFA. Should be a terrorist group listed in this country and perhaps other laces as well. SOROS money has been linked to them in the past.
What a joke, how is this going to help anyone?
It’s turning into Los Anchorage, does anyone out there even care? Dunleavy certainly doesn’t.
“NOT HIS JURISDICTION ” IN OTHER WORDS NOTHING IS; BUT HE SURE ENJOYS TALKING TO MARK LEVIN PRETENDIND TO BE A BIG STICK……..IN THE MUD!