The Anchorage Assembly declined Tuesday to take up a proposal to establish a public safety advisory commission, effectively killing the motion, at least for now.
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That’s after more than a year of public discussion, including a task force to foster community input into how the city’s police, fire, health and other public safety agencies operate. Task force members had said much of their dialogue around the commission was focused on the Anchorage Police Department, after a high number of police shootings in recent years.
Anchorage previously had a Public Safety Advisory Commission that dissolved in 2024.
Anchorage Assembly member Kameron Perez-Verdia co-sponsored the proposal to re-establish the commission. During Tuesday night’s Assembly meeting, he moved to discuss the ordinance, but he was the only member to do so.
“I was surprised,” Perez-Verdia said by phone Thursday morning. “I thought it was going to be seconded, and that we’d have an opportunity to discuss it.”
Without any other Assembly members agreeing to take it up, the proposal died for lack of discussion.
The Assembly has heard weeks of public testimony on the proposal, which would have created a commission of nine voting members that would be able to review public safety policies, request third-party investigations of specific incidents, hold public meetings and provide recommendations to city leaders.
More than 20 people testified to the Assembly Tuesday night, and criticisms were varied, Perez-Verdia said.
“There were some folks who were frustrated that it didn’t go far enough, or that the narrative that came out of some of the comments were negative towards public safety,” Perez-Verdia said. “And so that’s the narrative that really dominated that room.”
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Those who thought the proposal didn’t go far enough, like Emily Kloc, told Assembly members the commission should be more proactive in addressing public safety concerns. Kloc is a coordinator with the Alaska Coalition for Justice, an organization that worked with the task force.
“The majority of task force members voted for a commission with investigatory and subpoena authority and enhanced access to information,” she said. ”And since the introduction of this ordinance, dozens of community members have called for justice for victims and oversight of APD.”
Others, like Anchorage police officer Dominick Eubank, expressed concern to the Assembly that commission members would not have real-world experience in law enforcement, or that they might hinder the police department’s work.
“I understand that some level of oversight can be appropriate and necessary,” Eubank said. “However, asking individuals without formal training in use-of-force or police procedure to evaluate these incidents has failed elsewhere, and I believe it creates a serious risk here as well.”
The effort to reestablish a public commission is not over, said Perez-Verdia said, who plans to regroup with the ordinance’s co-sponsor to try to keep the conversation going.
Perez-Verdia said the question of civilian oversight of public safety is a discussion worth having, but as a separate motion from the commission.
“The need to address all of these issues that came up during this process is still there,” he said. “We need to find a way to better address all of those concerns.”
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