Demand for Transparency: Anchorage Assembly urges APD to release recent police shooting recordings & update body camera policy

Breaking Now News: Anchorage Assembly Urges Police to Improve Body Camera Policies

Protestors in the audience of the Anchorage Assembly meeting on July 16, 2024 at the Loussac Library held up branded signs of the Party for Socialism and Liberation. The signs support a resolution urging the police department to make its body camera policies more transparent. (Matt Faubion/Alaska Public Media)

The Anchorage Police Department published a draft of a new body camera policy on Friday. And Tuesday night, the Anchorage Assembly already had notes.

In a resolution the Assembly passed in a 9-1 vote, it asks the department for four things.

1. First, to give body camera footage and other recordings related to the police killing of Kristopher Handy on May 13 to his family. Police initially said Handy pointed a gun at officers, though private security footage appears to contradict that claim.
2. Handy’s killing was the first in a string of three people Anchorage police killed across five recent shootings.
3. Second, the resolution also asks the police to publish recordings of all “recent critical incidents” within 30 days.
4. Third, the Assembly wants the department to review a joint proposal by the Alaska Black Caucus, the NAACP Anchorage, and the Northern Justice Project, the policies of the Los Angeles Police Department, and the American Civil Liberties Union’s model act.
5. Finally, if the department denies a request to release body camera recordings, the Assembly wants a new public body to handle appeals, and to treat denials like other denials under the city’s public records code. Assembly Vice Chair Meg Zaletel said that’s important because it comes with more appeals processes and clear timelines.

“I think the revised policy is much better than the previous policy,” she said. “I still think that there’s room for improvement.”

The Assembly and police have a work session scheduled for Friday to go over the department’s draft policy. Chief Sean Case said he’s looking forward to it.

“The intent is, if there are any modifications, to make those and have the policy go into effect Monday,” he said. “Less than a week. Time to move.”

Zaletel said she’s optimistic the department will take the guidance to heart.

Assembly member Zac Johnson, a former state trooper, was the lone no vote.

“We talk about transparency and accountability, but I think that sometimes, there can be some tension between these,” he said. “We can say that the sooner we get the footage out there available to the public, like, yes, that does favor transparency. But I think that can come at a cost to accountability.”

He explained that when the police kill someone, the investigation is treated as a potential murder. And investigators generally don’t share evidence in murders before they’re prosecuted because it can negatively impact the process.

Johnson said there needs to be a balance and didn’t want to vote on the resolution ahead of the work session on Friday.

Jeremy Hsieh, Alaska Public Media - Anchorage

Jeremy Hsieh covers Anchorage with an emphasis on housing, homelessness, infrastructure, and development. Reach him at jhsieh@alaskapublic.org or 907-550-8428. Read more about Jeremy here.

What do you think?

• Should the police department release body camera footage to the public?
• Do you believe transparency or accountability is more important in this situation?
• Should there be a new public body to handle appeals for denied requests?