Anchorage Police set timeline for release of bodycam footage in new draft policy

According to a new draft of the Anchorage Police Department’s body cam policy, body cam footage of police shootings and other “critical incidents” must be made public within 45 days.

The Anchorage Police Department released the draft on Friday and a spokesman said it has yet to be signed.

The addition of a timeline to the policy follows growing public pressure to release bodycam footage after a series of five police shootings in the past two months that left three people dead. These were the first police shootings since officers began wearing the cameras.

Rich Curtner is an attorney with the Alaska Black Caucus, one of the organizations that has pushed for police body cameras. He said his organization has pushed for a shorter timeline for releasing footage.

“I think 30 days would be better than 45 days,” Curtner said, “but it’s still a lot better than unlimited discretion on the part of the boss.”

APD representatives declined an interview request on the grounds that the directive was still a draft.

Police Chief Sean Case, appointed three weeks ago by newly elected Mayor Suzanne LaFrance, said creating a schedule for releasing police body camera footage was a top priority.

In a statement, LaFrance called public safety “the most important responsibility of local governments.”

“It has been a priority for my administration to support and advance an update to APD’s policy on body-worn cameras,” LaFrance said. “I commend APD and Chief Case for their work and for quickly moving to a practical policy that allows for the release of footage while protecting criminal investigations.”

Under the current policy, the release of bodycam footage is unilaterally up to the police chief. The new draft policy would allow the police chief to delay the release of footage under certain circumstances. Curtner said Case told the Alaska Black Caucus an example would be if a shooting victim was charged with murder.

“This could be a complicated case,” Curtner said. “Because if the person is charged with murder and this is part of the evidence of the shooting, then it could play into their rights.”

The policy also allows families of police shooting victims to request private viewing of footage two weeks after the incidents. The change followed requests from the family of Kristopher Handy to view footage of the fatal police shooting. Handy was shot after pointing a long gun at officers, according to police, though private surveillance footage challenges that claim.

The draft guidelines state that families would not be allowed to make recordings of private screenings and that requests to do so would be at the discretion of the police chief.