After a series of police shootings in Anchorage, activists are calling for a citizens’ investigation

In recent years, Michael Patterson has advocated for families in Anchorage who have lost family members to police shootings.

“I’m tired of talking to families and meeting really nice, you know, normal working-class people and having to discuss with them, ‘Your loved one was killed in an incredibly violent and cruel way,'” Patterson said.

Patterson is an organizer of the Party for Socialism and Liberation – Anchorage, or PSL for short. The left-wing group of about a dozen organizers was founded in 2020 and had previously campaigned for the introduction of body cameras for police officers. Since May, PSL-Anchorage has been calling for the release of police body camera footage.

After five police shootings in Anchorage in less than two months, PSL-Anchorage is pushing for the city to establish an independent police investigation board to increase transparency and accountability.

“What we want is an independent police investigative board that has the ability to investigate police officers for misconduct, refer criminal complaints to the state of Alaska, recommend changes to policies and procedures and the like,” Patterson said.

A citizen review board would be staffed by professional investigators, led by a committee of Anchorage residents. Patterson said his group has worked with the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement, a national group that has developed best practices for such boards. He hopes to set up the board in Anchorage following the model of other cities in the Lower 48.

“People tend to forget this, but the police are the government that has guns,” Patterson said. “The government kills people. And there is literally no accountability and no transparency about why this is happening or whether it’s OK when it happens.”

Patterson said the need for an independent oversight body is clear: Since mid-May, Anchorage police have shot five people, killing three. All five were armed. These are the first shootings since police were equipped with body cameras, though no footage has been released. Anchorage police say they will release the footage after internal and state review, but Patterson said the process has dragged on.

He does not express his views in silence.

As Anchorage Mayor Suzanne LaFrance was sworn in on July 1, Patterson and about a dozen other protesters chanted nearby. While some criticized the group as disruptive, Patterson said local officials have done enough talking over the years about how police can better serve the community.

“We’ve had a conversation,” Paterson said. “We’re here to act. You know, you can’t have the police shoot four people, justified or not, and kill three of them, justified or not, in less than 50 days, I think, and then say, ‘Oh, there’s no crisis.'”

One group PSL-Anchorage does not work with is the Alaska Black Caucus, even though the nonprofit was instrumental in equipping Anchorage police with body cameras, which voters approved in 2021. Patterson said he has not contacted the group because it is too deferential to the city.

While Alaska Black Caucus leaders say they want an oversight board and are open to working with the PSL, President Celeste Hodge-Growden said her group does not want to alienate people.

“We want to work together in harmony to achieve, as I said, our ultimate goal,” Hodge-Growden said. “We don’t want to work with anyone who experiences conflict or confrontation.”

The concept of a civilian oversight board is certainly supported by the city. Assemblyman Felix Rivera said he is in favor of some sort of civilian oversight of the APD.

“This is not about trust in the APD,” ​​Rivera said. “It’s more about how we can achieve civilian oversight, like many, many, many cities in the Lower 48 do, and how we can build a better relationship between the community and the APD.”

Mayor LaFrance’s new police chief, Sean Case, took office earlier this month and has publicly stated that his focus is on improving relations between the police and the public.

At a press conference Thursday on the fifth police shooting incident in the city this year, he was asked by Alaska Public Media whether he supported the creation of a civilian oversight board.

“It’s probably not the right time to do it,” Case said. “If you think about it from an officer’s perspective, moving from one level of control to another can really damage morale and the desire to get up and go to work every day, knowing that we’re just going to keep piling these things on top of each other.”

Case said there are already several levels of accountability for the department, including press conferences and other media appearances and opportunities for elected officials to voice their concerns to police. Currently, the department is focused on improving body camera policies, he said.

Patterson of PSL-Anchorage said his organization is reaching out to community stakeholders to sign an agreement to agree to come together and discuss what a review board in Anchorage might look like. The goal is to present the proposal to the Assembly and put it before voters as a ballot initiative.

PSL-Anchorage is hosting a community event from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the Umoja Coworking Space to educate the public on what a civilian oversight board might look like. Representatives from the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement will also present.