Anchorage Assembly takes up a $599,000 crime center purchase and surveillance limits

The Anchorage Assembly returns Tuesday to a roughly $599,000 purchase for the police department's Real Time Crime Center, an item it has postponed twice. The same night, it opens a public hearing on an ordinance that would write surveillance rules into city code.

The purchase buys display and control equipment for the existing center: a video wall, an 86-inch conference display, video processing gear and a separate control network not connected to outside systems. The money comes from the federal and state fine and forfeiture fund rather than property taxes.

Police Chief Sean Case, who recommended the purchase, told the Assembly at an August work session that the contract adds no new surveillance capability, and described the limits the department already applies: license plate reader data held 14 days, fewer than 10 employees able to search it, and quarterly reviews he conducts weighing the center's usefulness against privacy risk.

Three residents filed written testimony against it, arguing the city should settle the rules before it spends more on the system. Kassandra Smith questioned how well the vendor's data would be protected and who would have access to it, and asked the Assembly to fund police oversight instead. Katherine Sinclair wrote that restrictions belong in place "before the RTCC is constructed so that they do not become an afterthought," citing Lower 48 cases of officers misusing similar software to track partners and former partners. Tierice Coleman asked the Assembly to obtain the system's audit, access and retention records first, and said he has filed a public records request for query logs, authorized users and any misuse investigations.

No one filed written testimony in support. The public hearing on the purchase is closed, and no motion is pending.

The ordinance getting its hearing Tuesday would replace the city's surveillance chapter, set retention limits, restrict license plate readers, require Assembly approval before the police adopt new surveillance tools, and add audit and enforcement provisions. Assembly members Keith McCormick, Daniel Volland and Sydney Scout sponsored it. That hearing begins no earlier than 6 pm.