{"id":205,"date":"2026-05-28T20:09:05","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T20:09:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/?p=205"},"modified":"2026-05-28T20:09:05","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T20:09:05","slug":"anchorage-officials-say-public-safety-is-improving-in-the-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/?p=205","title":{"rendered":"Anchorage officials say public safety is improving in the city"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Anchorage is becoming safer, according to Anchorage Police Chief Sean Case. He said the change is thanks to a major shift in how the city is addressing public safety.<\/p>\n

Read more Congress will consider transferring a cultural site in Denali National Park to Doyon, Ltd.<\/a><\/p>\n

Last fall, the Anchorage Police Department created a team<\/u> tasked with combating retail theft. This spring, the department announced it would collaborate with the state<\/u> to prosecute higher-level retail theft and other crimes. At a news conference in Anchorage Wednesday, Case said that\u2019s already producing results.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re seeing that these cases are being prosecuted,\u201d he said. \u201cWe’ve only had one case that’s been dismissed. The rest are either in process or have been successfully prosecuted with a guilty conviction or plea.\u201d<\/p>\n

The crackdown on retail theft has resulted in more than 231 prosecuted cases. That represents $153,999 in retail loss.<\/p>\n

The Anchorage Assembly has also passed new laws meant to address public safety. Earlier this year, members voted to outlaw threatening and nuisance behavior<\/u> and disruptive intoxication in public. Last summer, members passed a law prohibiting homeless camping<\/u> near parks, trails and schools.<\/p>\n

APD doesn\u2019t usually enforce those laws with immediate arrests, Case said. Instead, outreach teams connect people who may be in crisis with the services they need.<\/p>\n

Those outreach teams are indicative of a cultural shift at the department, Case said.<\/p>\n

Read more Q&A: The transboundary mining boom in the Coast Range<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cTraditionally, when I grew up in law enforcement, there was kind of one answer to every problem: handcuffs,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you committed a crime, we’d put handcuffs on you, we’d take you to jail, and that was kind of the simple solution.\u201d<\/p>\n

The problem with that, he said, is that arrests don\u2019t fix underlying problems. The department wants to change behavior. That\u2019s where outreach programs come in, by getting people to behavioral health and addiction treatment, shelter or housing and sometimes even flying them home to be with family through a program called the Good Neighbor Fund<\/u>.<\/p>\n

When those diversion tactics don\u2019t work, officers switch to enforcement, Case said. Since last fall, 569 people have voluntarily complied with the city\u2019s camping ordinance. APD has made 65 arrests.<\/p>\n

Case said it\u2019s clear from the numbers that the combination of outreach and enforcement is working. Still, he understands that it may take a while for people in Anchorage to feel safer<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you had your house burglarized, you’re a business owner, and you’ve lost \u2013 you’ve had a negative interaction with someone engaging in menacing-type behavior around Anchorage \u2013 those things last for a while, and so it takes a little bit of time to move past that emotional response,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Anchorage Mayor Suzanne LaFrance said the city\u2019s not done. They\u2019re always looking for new ways to improve safety and decrease crime. One way, she said, is just by encouraging people to use public spaces, like with the Live After Five<\/u> music concerts and night market<\/u> in downtown Anchorage this summer.<\/p>\n

Read more Trump wants a gas tax holiday. There\u2019s a much bigger problem looming.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

They credit the change to a balance between enforcement and diversion programs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":204,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nAnchorage officials say public safety is improving in the city - Alaska Moving Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/?p=205\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Anchorage officials say public safety is improving in the city - Alaska Moving Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"They credit the change to a balance between enforcement and diversion programs.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/?p=205\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Alaska Moving Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-28T20:09:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/?p=205#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/?p=205\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4e09896005b88414084eb4bd3215ab0a\"},\"headline\":\"Anchorage officials say public safety is improving in the city\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-28T20:09:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/?p=205\"},\"wordCount\":538,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/?p=205#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/a370ce60a7386af0d2fd2fcaa020c9b4-scaled.jpeg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/?p=205#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/?p=205\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/?p=205\",\"name\":\"Anchorage officials say public safety is improving in the city - Alaska Moving Network\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/?p=205#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/?p=205#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/a370ce60a7386af0d2fd2fcaa020c9b4-scaled.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-28T20:09:05+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4e09896005b88414084eb4bd3215ab0a\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/?p=205#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/?p=205\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/?p=205#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/a370ce60a7386af0d2fd2fcaa020c9b4-scaled.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/a370ce60a7386af0d2fd2fcaa020c9b4-scaled.jpeg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1920},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/?p=205#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Anchorage officials say public safety is improving in the city\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Alaska Moving Network\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4e09896005b88414084eb4bd3215ab0a\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Anchorage officials say public safety is improving in the city - Alaska Moving Network","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/?p=205","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Anchorage officials say public safety is improving in the city - Alaska Moving Network","og_description":"They credit the change to a balance between enforcement and diversion programs.","og_url":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/?p=205","og_site_name":"Alaska Moving Network","article_published_time":"2026-05-28T20:09:05+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/?p=205#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/?p=205"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4e09896005b88414084eb4bd3215ab0a"},"headline":"Anchorage officials say public safety is improving in the city","datePublished":"2026-05-28T20:09:05+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/?p=205"},"wordCount":538,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/?p=205#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/a370ce60a7386af0d2fd2fcaa020c9b4-scaled.jpeg","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/?p=205#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/?p=205","url":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/?p=205","name":"Anchorage officials say public safety is improving in the city - Alaska Moving Network","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/?p=205#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/?p=205#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/a370ce60a7386af0d2fd2fcaa020c9b4-scaled.jpeg","datePublished":"2026-05-28T20:09:05+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4e09896005b88414084eb4bd3215ab0a"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/?p=205#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/?p=205"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/?p=205#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/a370ce60a7386af0d2fd2fcaa020c9b4-scaled.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/a370ce60a7386af0d2fd2fcaa020c9b4-scaled.jpeg","width":2560,"height":1920},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/?p=205#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Anchorage officials say public safety is improving in the city"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/","name":"Alaska Moving Network","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4e09896005b88414084eb4bd3215ab0a","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com"],"url":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=205"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}