Anchorage Police Chief Justin Doll plans to leave the police department this summer and is under consideration for a job as chief of police in San Jose, Calif.
In a written statement, Doll said he will retire in June. A memo Tuesday from the City of San Jose — first reported by the San Jose Mercury News — said Doll was recently added to a list of finalists in the city’s search for a new police chief.
Doll is one of six candidates for the position, three of whom already work for the San Jose Police Department.
According to his bio on the Anchorage Police Department’s website, Doll is a lifelong Alaskan who moved to Anchorage when he was young, graduating from West High School and the University of Alaska. He joined the Marine Corps Reserve prior to getting into law enforcement, serving until 2001.
Doll joined the Anchorage police as a recruit in 1996 and — after working in the Homicide and SWAT units, among other positions — was promoted to chief in 2017.
“After nearly 25 years of public service in my hometown, I plan to retire this June. It’s been an honor and privilege to serve my community as a proud member of APD,” Doll said in the statement. “An opportunity with the San Jose Police Department has come up and I’m honored to be under consideration to be their next Chief of Police.”
Doll’s tenure has seen increased funding and more officers on Anchorage’s streets, as property crimes skyrocketed in the city amid the state’s opioid epidemic. Anchorage police said they’ve been successful in suppressing violent crime and property crime in the city: Homicides were down in 2020 from a record-high in 2017, and a near-record in 2019.
Neither Doll nor Anchorage police spokespersons would comment for this story.
An online forum for the San Jose police chief candidates is set for Saturday.
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.
