Mayor Sullivan Announces Investigation into APD

The Mayor of Anchorage has announced an external investigation into the policies and procedures at the Anchorage Police Department. KSKA’s Daysha Eaton reports, the announcement comes on the heels of Mayor Dan Sullivan’s re-election and nearly 2 years after allegations that a police officer had sexually assaulted a woman.

At a press conference held late Monday he explained that the investigation into the APD’s policies and procedures is due in part to issues highlighted by the Anthony Rollins case. In 2009 it came to light that Rollins allegedly sexually assaulted a woman while on duty.

“What we want to do is make sure that the policies and procedures at the APD are sufficient to make sure that incidents like the Rollins incident never happen again, if possible. We want to make sure were following the highest standards. And the international Association of Chiefs of Police is who we’re looking to hire – have them review our procedures and policies and make any recommendations on how they think we can strengthen what we’re doing. (Daysha: When is it going to start?) I think within just a couple weeks.”
APD Chief Mark Mew says he welcomes the investigation.
“I hope that the IACP will recognize that we’ve made a lot of changes and I think that they are the kind of changes that aught to be made. I think that we are performing due dilligence. We’d like to get their read on to that. I’m hoping to get confirmation on that. But to the extent that we’ve forgotten to do something that we ought to be doing, well then I hope to be given some good suggestions that we can implement.”
Mayor Sullivan says his office is in final negotiations with the International Association of Chiefs of Police and he hopes the investigation will be completed by the fall.

Daysha Eaton is a contributor with the Alaska Public Radio Network.

Daysha Eaton holds a B.A. from Evergreen State College, and a M.A. from the University of Southern California. Daysha got her start in radio at Seattle public radio stations, KPLU and KUOW. Before coming to KBBI, she was the News Director at KYUK in Bethel. She has also worked as the Southcentral Reporter for KSKA in Anchorage.

Daysha's work has appeared on NPR's "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered", PRI's "The World" and "National Native News". She's happy to take assignments, and to get news tips, which are best sent via email.

Daysha became a journalist because she believes in the power of storytelling. Stories connect us and they help us make sense of our world. They shed light on injustice and they comfort us in troubled times. She got into public broadcasting because it seems to fulfill the intention of the 4th Estate and to most effectively apply the freedom of the press granted to us through the Constitution. She feels that public radio has a special way of moving people emotionally through sound, taking them to remote places, introducing them to people they would not otherwise meet and compelling them to think about issues they might ordinarily overlook.

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