OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Anchorage Assembly Work Session on Real-Time Crime Center and Equipment Purchase – August 21, 2026

Assembly & Committee Meetings — Friday, August 21, 2026
BodyAnchorage, Alaska
SessionAssembly & Committee Meetings
DateFriday, August 21, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 58:28

Transcript — Verbatim
0:02

Okay, everyone, let's get started.

0:04

Um, this is our first work session of the day.

0:06

Uh, today is Friday, August 21st.

0:08

We are noticed from 1040 to 1140 a.m.

0:11

and have a couple things after this.

0:13

This is a work session on uh broadly on real-time crime center uh with APD and more specifically AM524 2026, um, a cooperative purchase from Thundercat Technology, et cetera, for some equipment for said uh real-time crime center, which was postponed from our August uh 4th and August 18th meetings uh will be on our agenda for September 1st.

0:36

So uh we'll do introductions and then uh I'll say that my intent is to mainly turn this over to Chief Case to give a presentation, and then I will be managing the queue.

0:44

Um so starting with members, uh Mr.

0:46

Martinez.

0:46

George Martinez, Cameron Perez for deal.

0:49

Donald Handlin, Scout.

0:51

Anna Brawley.

0:52

And on the phone, we have uh Ms.

0:54

Silvers and any other members on the phone.

1:05

Okay, not hearing any.

1:06

Uh, we're also joined by members of the administration, members of the public, uh clerk, assembly council, and uh legislative services and chief case.

1:14

So I will again turn it over.

1:16

We have a presentation today, and uh go ahead, Chief Case.

1:19

All right, thank you, everyone.

1:20

Thank you, ma'am.

1:21

Uh, I wanna start by just backing us up to a little over two years ago when we started talking about technology at the Anchorage Police Department.

1:28

Uh we we did not hesitate for one second to talk about our goal was to be the most technologically advanced police department in the country.

1:37

There's a whole host of reasons for that.

1:38

One of which is uh even being fully staffed, if we had all of our officers on the street, the expectation, demands that we all have to include the police department of how we police this community and how the Anchorage Police Department is involved in this community.

1:52

415 officers isn't isn't touching it.

1:55

Uh there has to be ways that we interact, engage with the community and provide services outside of straight law enforcement services that uh that uses something so that we can use the 415 people when they are fully staffed.

2:10

And technology is one of those pieces.

2:13

Um where we're at today in that adventure, and I think it's really important that we understand uh the police department's direction.

2:22

When we look at technology, we have a document that we follow internally.

2:26

Uh that are some guiding principles on how we implement, how we look at technology, how we test technology.

2:32

Um, think of it as like the values that we uh keep when we're looking at bringing technology into the organization.

2:39

Uh, we are the Anchorage Police Department, your Anchorage Police Department is a leader when it comes to technology in this country.

2:45

We are not following behind other agencies and blindly buying technology and utilizing it.

2:51

Currently, this week, we have one of our deputy chiefs that's presenting at a real-time crime center conference.

2:56

He's gonna come home for two days and he's gonna go out to another technology conference.

3:00

And why is he doing that?

3:01

Because the work that the Anchorage Police Department is leading this country right now.

3:05

There are police departments and technology companies right now that's working with APD and watching what we're doing, and they're making determinations and they're making policies based on some of the things that we're doing.

3:17

So we're getting ahead of the getting ahead of the program.

3:21

Uh and and I tell you that.

3:23

So, number one, I think it's something that we can be proud of.

3:25

Number two, uh, you have a great resource at your hand with people inside of the Anchorage Police Department that knows a whole heck of a lot of not only what's going on within the police department, but can tell you a whole heck of a lot what's going on around the country and law enforcement in general, how we use policing or how we use technology.

3:44

You have all seen this, but I will always start off presentations like this.

3:48

Uh, I mentioned that we have a document uh that we utilize when we look at new technology and you know, technology is an extension of everything else we do.

3:58

And we are a vision and values-based organization.

4:01

This is what we follow in everything that we do.

4:04

Uh unfortunately, as great as artificial intelligence technology is exist today.

4:09

I tried, doesn't work.

4:11

I can't type into AI right now and ask it how many times have I said publicly the right to privacy, uh, because I've said it probably more than anybody else publicly in the last two and a half years.

4:22

It has been a fundamental focus of what we do and how we do it when it comes to technology.

4:31

Many of you seen this slide as well, but again, it is important that we look at the full spectrum of things that we do here uh at the Anchorage Police Department.

4:40

Everything that you see in red there are things that we added uh in the last just over two years.

4:45

There are three additional uh items that I've placed on there in yellow.

4:51

Uh, one, the uh street enforcement team, that is the street drug units that we've been talking about.

5:00

Uh special problems unit, that is uh those kind of average, everyday, really annoying things that we want the police department to do something about uh that kind of we just we try to hand it off to patrol, we try to hand it off to impact, we try to hand it off to various different units.

5:14

There's gotta be a landing pad for those types of calls that we know are important to our community, but they don't have a landing pad, and then a dedicated foot patrol that right now, as you all know, are running by overtime.

5:24

Uh and and what I can tell you is that the goal was to have these things online in October.

5:29

Uh, that's just not going to be possible.

5:32

The the requests and the demands of what we are being asked to do, we really can't move into that quite yet.

5:37

And in it just uh to kind of further emphasize that there's there's gotta be some level of flexibility and technology uh that we can pass some of the work off to so that we have are able to more quickly manage data and information, uh, you know, things that right now we have individual employees doing some of that work.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Technology and Innovation█████████████████████████████████████████████59%
Public Safety█████████████████████████████38%
Procedural██3%
Summary of Proceedings

Anchorage Assembly Work Session on Real-Time Crime Center and Equipment Purchase – August 21, 2026

This work session, held from 10:40 to 11:40 a.m. on August 21, 2026, focused on the Anchorage Police Department’s Real-Time Crime Center (RTCC) and a pending cooperative purchase (AM524 2026) from Thundercat Technology for equipment. The item was postponed from August 4 and 18 meetings and will be on the September 1, 2026 assembly agenda. Chief Case led the presentation, addressing privacy, technology deployment, and the specific purchase.

Discussion Items

  • Privacy and Legal Framework: Chief Case emphasized Alaska’s strong constitutional right to privacy (Article 1, Section 22) and strict search-and-seizure rules, which differ from most states. He noted that officers must obtain warrants for vehicle searches even with probable cause, and that evidence suppression can now affect officer credibility.
  • Flock Safety Cameras: Chief Case stated the Anchorage Police Department has no contract or relationship with Flock Safety, and he is unaware of any governmental Flock cameras in Alaska. A map shown from the website “deflock” purported to show nine cameras in Anchorage, but he deemed it unverified. The New York Times reported Alaska is the only state without Flock cameras.
  • Pre-2025 Technology: APD previously had access to traffic cameras (owned by the traffic department), body-worn cameras, dash cameras, and private/business cameras (e.g., Ring). These systems cannot search for people or license plates historically. License plate readers (LPRs) were added post-2025.
  • Current LPR System: The LPR system reads license plates and checks against a national stolen vehicle database and a limited internal list. It does not capture video, only license plate data and GPS coordinates, retained for 14 days. Only about 10 individuals in the RTCC can access historical data, and only for criminal cases. Officers in the field get alerts only when a plate matches a database entry, and they must manually verify. In 2026, only one case involved sharing LPR data with an outside agency (a federal violent felony case).
  • Camera Registration and Fusus Core: APD has 236 registered cameras (via a website) and 11 cameras with direct access (all APD-owned). The Fusus core allows businesses to grant limited live access, but Chief Case stressed that APD will never monitor those feeds live due to staffing limitations.
  • Policy vs. Code: Chief Case noted internal policies can be changed by the chief, but code (e.g., existing restrictions on facial recognition and drones) is harder to amend. He argued code cannot keep pace with technology. Assembly member Gates clarified that if an ordinance is passed, it supersedes conflicting policy. The assembly also discussed the value of codifying certain guardrails.
  • Funding for Equipment: The $600,000 purchase (AM524 2026) is for basic RTCC equipment—desks, chairs, computer screens, and improved cellular connectivity—not new technology. Funds come from federal forfeiture accounts, which cannot be used for operating budget or to supplant existing funding. The assembly previously approved the appropriation but must now approve the specific use.
  • Case Studies: Chief Case cited two examples: a suicide threat where technology helped locate the individual, and a sexual assault investigation where intersection cameras and GPS data led to a suspect and an unrelated robbery. He emphasized these capabilities existed before the RTCC.
  • Effectiveness Studies: A Hartford, Connecticut study showed RTCC involvement made cases 442% more likely to be solved, and a Miami study found consistent crime reduction benefits over time.

Key Outcomes

  • No votes were taken during this work session. The item AM524 2026 will be considered as a continued item on the September 1, 2026 assembly agenda. It does not have a public hearing as it was originally on the consent calendar.
  • Chief Case reiterated that the purchase is for infrastructure improvements, not new surveillance capabilities. The RTCC operates under strict internal policies that include 14-day LPR data retention, quarterly audits, and annual reporting. The assembly expressed interest in comparing code-based versus policy-based safeguards.
  • The assembly acknowledged that the real-time crime center and associated technology decisions will continue to be a focus in coming months.

Meeting Transcript

Okay, everyone, let's get started. Um, this is our first work session of the day. Uh, today is Friday, August 21st. We are noticed from 1040 to 1140 a.m. and have a couple things after this. This is a work session on uh broadly on real-time crime center uh with APD and more specifically AM524 2026, um, a cooperative purchase from Thundercat Technology, et cetera, for some equipment for said uh real-time crime center, which was postponed from our August uh 4th and August 18th meetings uh will be on our agenda for September 1st. So uh we'll do introductions and then uh I'll say that my intent is to mainly turn this over to Chief Case to give a presentation, and then I will be managing the queue. Um so starting with members, uh Mr. Martinez. George Martinez, Cameron Perez for deal. Donald Handlin, Scout. Anna Brawley. And on the phone, we have uh Ms. Silvers and any other members on the phone. Okay, not hearing any. Uh, we're also joined by members of the administration, members of the public, uh clerk, assembly council, and uh legislative services and chief case. So I will again turn it over. We have a presentation today, and uh go ahead, Chief Case. All right, thank you, everyone. Thank you, ma'am. Uh, I wanna start by just backing us up to a little over two years ago when we started talking about technology at the Anchorage Police Department. Uh we we did not hesitate for one second to talk about our goal was to be the most technologically advanced police department in the country. There's a whole host of reasons for that. One of which is uh even being fully staffed, if we had all of our officers on the street, the expectation, demands that we all have to include the police department of how we police this community and how the Anchorage Police Department is involved in this community. 415 officers isn't isn't touching it. Uh there has to be ways that we interact, engage with the community and provide services outside of straight law enforcement services that uh that uses something so that we can use the 415 people when they are fully staffed. And technology is one of those pieces. Um where we're at today in that adventure, and I think it's really important that we understand uh the police department's direction. When we look at technology, we have a document that we follow internally. Uh that are some guiding principles on how we implement, how we look at technology, how we test technology. Um, think of it as like the values that we uh keep when we're looking at bringing technology into the organization. Uh, we are the Anchorage Police Department, your Anchorage Police Department is a leader when it comes to technology in this country. We are not following behind other agencies and blindly buying technology and utilizing it. Currently, this week, we have one of our deputy chiefs that's presenting at a real-time crime center conference. He's gonna come home for two days and he's gonna go out to another technology conference. And why is he doing that? Because the work that the Anchorage Police Department is leading this country right now. There are police departments and technology companies right now that's working with APD and watching what we're doing, and they're making determinations and they're making policies based on some of the things that we're doing. So we're getting ahead of the getting ahead of the program. Uh and and I tell you that. So, number one, I think it's something that we can be proud of. Number two, uh, you have a great resource at your hand with people inside of the Anchorage Police Department that knows a whole heck of a lot of not only what's going on within the police department, but can tell you a whole heck of a lot what's going on around the country and law enforcement in general, how we use policing or how we use technology. You have all seen this, but I will always start off presentations like this. Uh, I mentioned that we have a document uh that we utilize when we look at new technology and you know, technology is an extension of everything else we do. And we are a vision and values-based organization. This is what we follow in everything that we do. Uh unfortunately, as great as artificial intelligence technology is exist today. I tried, doesn't work. I can't type into AI right now and ask it how many times have I said publicly the right to privacy, uh, because I've said it probably more than anybody else publicly in the last two and a half years. It has been a fundamental focus of what we do and how we do it when it comes to technology.

SUMMARIZED BY OPENPUBLICA AI
TRANSCRIPT VIA PUBLIC VIDEO
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