Anchorage police would get $182,425 to go after illegal street racing

The Anchorage Assembly takes up a grant Wednesday that would give police $182,425, most of it state money, to go after speeding and aggressive drivers during illegal street races.

Officers would work focused traffic assignments aimed at those violations, according to the mayor's memo on the grant. The memo doesn't say where in Anchorage racing happens or how often.

The state's highway safety annual report doesn't mention street racing. It does count speeding-related deaths statewide, which rose from 24 in 2023 to 35 in 2024. Early numbers for 2025 are far lower, though the state calls them very preliminary and subject to change.

A separate state grant paid for Anchorage police speed patrols last year. The $227,000 grant covered enforcement on major roads including the Glenn Highway and Minnesota Drive, and officers wrote 590 speeding tickets, the report says.

Of the $182,425, $178,500 is a reimbursable grant from the Alaska Department of Transportation, meaning the state repays the city after it spends the money. The other $3,925 would come from the police budget to cover internal city charges.

Officer overtime is the largest cost, at about $104,000, followed by benefits. The department would also put in $35,351 worth of staff time, a match the grant requires. The grant runs through September 2027, and Mayor Suzanne LaFrance's administration recommends approval.

The racing money is one of four state highway safety grants on Wednesday's agenda. The others would pay for speed enforcement, the department's impaired-driving unit and distracted-driving patrols on roads with high numbers of crashes involving pedestrians, bicyclists and motorcyclists. Together, they would bring in about $2.5 million in state money, or about $2.6 million counting the city's share.