Officials in Anchorage and the State of Alaska say they are partnering to prosecute more cases of domestic violence and serious property crime in the city.
Under an agreement announced Friday, an Anchorage city prosecutor will work on felony cases in the state District Attorney’s office. Until now, city prosecutors have not typically handled felony cases. The agreement will also have two Anchorage police officers assisting in the state District Attorney office’s investigations.
According to the memorandum of understanding, the new special assistant district attorney will focus on felony domestic violence and, it specifies, property crime if workload allows.
The deal comes amid soaring caseloads for prosecutors and after years of budget cuts that have hit the state DA’s offices hard.
The city says the two officers are available now that Anchorage’s police department has expanded its ranks. A city spokesperson says it will be sending a seasoned municipal prosecutor over to work in the state DA’s office, and hiring a new prosecutor to work on Anchorage misdemeanors.
Casey Grove is host of Alaska News Nightly, a general assignment reporter and an editor at Alaska Public Media. Reach him at cgrove@alaskapublic.org. Read more about Casey here.
