Anchorage police seek $599,000 in forfeiture money for crime center video wall

Anchorage police want to spend nearly $600,000 in seized-asset money on a video wall and a secure, isolated network for the Anchorage Police Department's Real Time Crime Center.

The request, submitted by Mayor Suzanne LaFrance and recommended by Police Chief Sean Case, asks the Assembly to contract with ThunderCat Technology, LLC, for an amount not to exceed $598,998.10. The item carried an Aug. 4 Assembly meeting date. A work session on the crime center is scheduled for Friday, Aug. 21, at 10:40 a.m. in Room 155 at City Hall.

Funding comes entirely from the Federal/State Fine and Forfeiture Fund, which holds money the Anchorage Police Department received through federal and state forfeiture proceedings. No municipal general fund money is involved.

APD says the center gives it a central location for receiving, reviewing and displaying information to support real-time situational awareness, operational coordination and investigative work.

The system includes a 6-by-2 video wall with a spare display, an 86-inch conference-area display, video processing equipment, touch-panel controls, ceiling speakers and an isolated control and video-streaming network. The price covers installation, programming, commissioning, user training and warranty support.

The purchase would run through OMNIA Partners contract #R250609, a national cooperative contract awarded to ThunderCat after a competitive solicitation, rather than a standalone Anchorage bid. That contract took effect March 1, 2026, and expires Feb. 28, 2029. The quoted price reflects a 1.86% discount off a $610,348.16 list price, a savings of $11,350.06. Using the cooperative contract "provides a competitively solicited procurement method while delivering a turnkey solution

that meets the operational needs of the RTCC," APD Resource Manager Leilah Lawyer wrote in a June 30 memorandum.

Alaska News earlier covered a $1.4 million forfeiture-funded APD package tied to the crime center, and a separate ordinance that would require Assembly approval before police buy surveillance technology. Anchorage has been without a police oversight body since January 2024, after an advisory-only commission ordinance died without a second. APD has already activated public safety cameras at Town Square Park that feed into the crime center.

The purchase places Anchorage within a national move by police departments toward centralized surveillance and data-analysis hubs bought on cooperative contracts. Researchers have found real-time crime centers can improve case clearances. Civil liberties scholars and the ACLU of Alaska argue the same centers risk over-policing and erosion of privacy without legal guardrails.