City leaders discuss mayor’s plans in handling police shootings, public transparency
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - Disagreements on the appropriate speed of reaction to six officer-involved shootings in three months were expressed among Anchorage Assembly members during a special committee meeting Wednesday.
Assembly Public Health & Safety Committee co-chair Kameron Perez-Verdia held Wednesday’s meeting in response to recent updates from Mayor Suzanne LaFrance’s office proposed last week with APD Chief Sean Case in which new protocols were introduced aiming to investigate and improve Anchorage Police Department practices after a 16-year-old girl was fatally shot by officers last week.
“We must recognize and honor the complex emotions that many are feeling,” Perez-Verdia said. “The grief and loss experienced by the family of the young girl, the heightened fear and mistrust in our community, particularly among communities of color, as a tremendous burden carried by the men and women of our police force, who face incredibly difficult decisions every day.”
In the mayor’s press conference last week, she apologized directly to the family of Easter Leafa, promising action to help prevent future deadly interactions with Anchorage officers.
Those promises included an internal investigation to be completed by a third-party investigator and a community advisory committee to be formed within the Anchorage Police Department.
That promise prompted APD Employee Association President Darrell Evans to release a statement last Friday in which he expressed a feeling of being “dismayed” by what he felt city leaders had implied regarding the Laefa shooting.
In his statement, Evans specifically addressed LaFrance’s apology, calling attention to the fact that the investigation had only begun and already apologies were being made for the actions of an officer who has yet been given the chance to defend or explain those actions.
During Wednesday’s special meeting, without directly referring to Evans’ statement, LaFrance addressed concerns about her perceived lack of support for the department.
“I did not mean my remarks to imply that anyone has pre-judged what happened last week,” LaFrance said. “I know officers are placed in difficult and complicated situations every day. I appreciate and respect the hard work [APD does) to keep Anchorage safe.
“At the same time, I am devastated that our community lost a 16-year-old girl last week, as I’m sure many of you are because I know these tragedies affect you too.”
After the mayor and Case detailed the new action plan around officer-involved shootings, Assembly members were then given an opportunity to ask questions and provide recommendations.
Assembly member Daniel Volland stressed the importance of utilizing a mobile intervention team under APD as Case clarified that a crisis team was not yet available for any of the six recent officer-involved shootings. Volland said ultimately, he feared the wrong message being sent to the public.
“What I worry about — specifically with a couple of these recent instances — is I don’t want to send the message to the community that if you have a loved one in crisis, or if you’re a victim of domestic violence at the hands of a loved one … ‘don’t call the police because you might lose your loved one.’”
Assembly Chair Chris Constant raised concerns around the administration and various parties within the Assembly “pulling in different directions.”
Calling officer-involved shootings the “most sensitive matter” currently facing the municipality, Constant said he rejected the idea of moving too quickly towards new initiatives proposed by Assembly members and rather allow the administration more time to develop proposals for all various entities within the municipality.
“There was a press release — press conference last week here,” Constant said. “Here we are having a meeting to get details on that, but already now, there is a proposal to completely transform and do it fast, because it’s what has to happen now. And I reject that, and I hope that what we do instead is hear from the experts, hear from our leadership, who is the executive branch for how they would plan to execute this, to implement this plan and program and update our process, and then we — in reflection — tackle whether it’s right or not and how we work it.”
In response to Constant’s comments, Volland offered pushback arguing that ideas such as civilian oversight were not “new conversations” and have been discussed within the community as far back as when LaFrance was still an Assembly member and Case was still deputy chief.
“Part of the frustration I think we’re hearing from the community is how long it took to get body cameras and a body camera worn policy,” Volland said. “So the community is not frustrated by rapid action. They are frustrated by very slow action and inaction, and so we have limited opportunities as Assembly members to weigh in on these issues, and part of our job as elected officials is to be responsive to constituent concerns.”
An additional meeting is planned for Sept. 6 where the Assembly plans to co-host a community conversation with the administration and community partners and offer further opportunity for public comments.
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