Letter to the Editor Anchorage Needs an Independent Police Review Board
By Michael Patterson - The Party for Socialism & Liberation Anchorage
Since 2020, the Party for Socialism and Liberation Anchorage (PSL Anchorage) has been calling on the Municipality of Anchorage (Anchorage) to create a police review board. Given the recent string of police shootings, this has become more critical. Currently, there is no resident or civilian oversight of law enforcement in Anchorage.
PSL Anchorage will host an education session on independent police review boards (review boards) on Saturday, July 14, at Umoja Coworking Space (3001 Porcupine Drive).
The Anchorage Police Department (APD) finally equipped all police officers with body-worn cameras in April 2024. Nevertheless, APD has yet to release body camera footage even though the police chief can proactively release footage before an investigation is completed. PSL Anchorage and other community organizers have learned that APD has too much control over internal investigations of their officers when accused of excessive force or misconduct.
A review board would have the mission to investigate allegations of misconduct and excessive force made against police officers. Review boards are not new; many other jurisdictions throughout the United States have had review boards for decades. If anything, Anchorage is decades behind in oversight of law enforcement. In some jurisdictions, a review board is the entity that decides when body-worn camera footage is released to the public. Review boards allow communities to exercise oversight over law enforcement, which is necessary for accountability and transparency.
PSL Anchorage is working with the National Association of Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement (NACOLE). NACOLE is an organization of oversight professionals. The national director of education from NACOLE will be presenting on July 14 at the education session. NACOLE will be presenting information on what a review board is. PSL Anchorage will be presenting on the history of oversight efforts in Anchorage. The education session will also include Anchorage resident Ahmed Hassan, who will speak about his family’s experience of losing his brother, Bishar Hassan. Bishar was shot and killed by APD in 2019.
APD has fought every effort to be held accountable or transparent. It took three long years to finally equip all police officers with body-worn cameras. And even after police officers have body-worn cameras, APD is now refusing to release body-worn camera footage. Even if all three recent police shootings are justified, given the short time between shootings, the public is owed an explanation as to why so many shootings have occurred, and the community has a right to see the body-worn camera footage. APD has had the opportunity to be forthcoming and open with the public, but they have yet to do so. Now, it is up to the public once again to create oversight. It was the public that fought for body-worn cameras. Now, the public must fight and organize to create a review board.
