Anchorage police now have a 45-day deadline to release certain body camera footage

A model of nan Anchorage Police Department Headquarters faces Fourth Avenue connected May 7, 2021. (Hannah Lies/Alaska Public Media)

The Anchorage Police Department’s revised assemblage camera policy went into effect Monday. 

The argumentation says nan main of constabulary still has discretion to support recordings of definite incidents from becoming public, but nan main must publically explicate why successful detail. Otherwise, nan recordings, which whitethorn person redactions, should beryllium published wrong 45 days. Incidents covered see uses of unit that lead to superior injuries aliases deaths, constabulary shootings mostly and deaths successful custody. 

The argumentation besides creates a measurement for families of group killed by constabulary to privately spot nan recordings earlier they are published.

The Alaska Black Caucus and different organizations had pushed for a quicker turnaround for erstwhile videos are released. Rich Curtner, a retired national nationalist defender for Alaska who useful connected justness issues for nan nonprofit, acknowledged it tin beryllium a analyzable process.

“The important point is that location are deadlines, and location are guidelines for erstwhile it’s released, and erstwhile it’s not released,” he said. “So those were nan important issues that we were concerned about.” 

The Alaska Black Caucus has campaigned for years for much constabulary transparency and oversight. That included getting Anchorage voters to o.k. caller taxes to outfit constabulary officers pinch assemblage cameras successful 2021, and pushing APD to travel through.

The revised argumentation follows an different drawstring of 5 Anchorage constabulary shootings from May 12 to July 8. Officers killed 3 group and wounded two. They’re nan first since officers were equipped pinch assemblage cameras. In the first shooting, a neighbor’s information video appeared to contradict nan department’s first narrative, renewing nationalist demands to merchandise constabulary videos and for more oversight. 

The policy, notably, does not see an appeals process if nan main declines to merchandise recordings. The Anchorage Assembly asked for that successful a resolution past week that passed 9-1. 

After discussing nan argumentation further pinch nan Assembly on Friday, nan section did make immoderate mini changes to its first draft. But an appeals process didn’t travel up. 

Anchorage Police Chief Sean Case said he didn’t want to hold nan different argumentation revisions. 

“You know, it looks bully connected insubstantial successful nan resolution, but really do we make that really work?” he said. “And there’s ways you could do it, but I decidedly wanted that to beryllium a broader discussion.” 

Case said he expects nan appeals process to travel backmost up erstwhile its main Assembly proponent, Vice Chair Meg Zaletel, gets caught up. Zaletel is traveling, and missed nan gathering connected Friday. She said Tuesday she wouldn’t beryllium capable to instantly comment. 

The assemblage camera argumentation is taxable to reappraisal successful a year, though Case said it tin beryllium changed sooner. 

Case said nan section is aiming to people recordings of nan first constabulary shooting connected Monday. He said nan section is moving connected getting nan family of nan man killed successful that incident, Kristopher Handy, successful to spot nan recordings earlier they’re published. 

He expects recordings from nan fatal shootings connected June 3 of Tyler May and June 19 of Lisa Fordyce-Blair to follow. 

The merchandise of recordings from nan different 2 wounding incidents are apt to beryllium delayed significantly, Case said, because criminal cases are pending against nan men constabulary shot, Kaleb Bourdukofsky connected June 1, and Damien Dollison connected July 8. Case said nan nationalist tin expect a deeper mentation connected those delays to come.   

Just last week, authorities officials who analyse section constabulary shootings explained their position that assemblage camera videos shouldn’t beryllium released until aft their investigation wraps. 

The state’s Office of Special Prosecutions besides concluded past week that nan APD officers who changeable Bourdukofsky were legally justified.