ANCHORAGE — Just months after police officers in Alaska‘s largest city began wearing body cameras, a series of police-involved shootings — three in three weeks — has unsettled residents and spurred calls for greater transparency on the part of law enforcement, who have not released any recordings of the shootings. .
Anchorage’s designated police chief, Bianca Cross, has the legal authority to release footage of all shootings immediately. However, she plans to wait until all department and state investigations are complete, a process that could take months. During a press conference this week, Cross indicated that the images may not be released at all.
The Alaska Black Caucus and relatives of one of the men shot, Kristopher Handy, have repeatedly called for the images to be made public. In Handy’s fatal shooting, they say, footage from a neighbor’s security camera challenges the Anchorage Police Department’s narrative.
“We couldn’t go through all of this to secure the body cameras, equip them with officers, to be where we are today,” Celeste Hodge Growden, chairwoman of the Alaska Black Caucus, said in an interview Thursday. . “The purpose was so we could have the untold story, the transparency, the accountability, and that’s what we’re missing now.”
Four officers shot Handy in the parking lot of an apartment complex on May 13. Officers later said he pointed a long gun at them. Authorities have not specified the type of firearm. However, security camera footage of the shooting, which was posted online, appears to show the gun in Handy’s right hand with the barrel pointed at the ground as he was shot multiple times.
Cross has said it’s easy to believe the neighbor’s video tells the whole story of the Handy shooting. That assumption, he said in a statement, was “false.”
He said the video does not capture important details, such as what happened before and after the 33-second clip, or outside of the camera’s view.
“It also doesn’t capture the human element of those involved to include their perception, what they see, what they hear and what they know,” he said in mid-May.
Handy’s relatives were among about 80 people who protested late last month outside police headquarters in downtown Anchorage. Many marched with signs that read: “Publish the images now!”
Travis Handy, brother of Kristopher Handy, who was killed by Anchorage police on May 13, 2024, speaks with other protesters outside police headquarters in downtown Anchorage on May 25, 2024, as they called for the police to release images from the officers’ body cameras. Just months after Anchorage police officers began wearing body cameras, three police-involved shootings in three weeks have unsettled residents and created a fight for transparency. Marc Lester/Anchorage Daily News via KeynoteUSA
“I think the body camera and dash cam footage will conclusively show what we believe happened. And that’s one reason it won’t be released,” his brother, Travis Handy, told the Anchorage Daily News during protest.
Cross, a 26-year veteran of Anchorage police and the first woman to lead the department, was named chief in late April by Mayor Dave Bronson. She lost her bid for re-election last month and she will leave office at the end of June. Cross has not yet been confirmed by the Anchorage Assembly for the permanent position.
City voters approved a $1.6 million levy in 2021 to acquire the cameras, but it has been a lengthy process to put them into use as the department and union agreed on policies.
The Alaska Black Caucus, an advocacy group that was key in pushing for police to use cameras, sued over the delays. Officers began using the cameras last November.
The other two police shootings, one of them fatal, occurred last week.
Tyler May, 21, was killed Monday after police say he refused to drop his gun after a police dog knocked him to the ground. Three officers fired their weapons at him.
The other shooting occurred early Saturday after bars in downtown Anchorage closed. Kaleb Bourdukofsky argued with a man outside a bar. As he walked away, police say he turned and fired into a crowd, killing the man he was arguing with and wounding another.
Two officers heard the shots from the nearby police station. They encountered Bourdukofsky, who they said was armed, then shot and wounded him.
A police officer wears an Axon body camera on Thursday, March 28, 2024, at Chugiak High School in Anchorage, Alaska. Just months after Anchorage police officers began wearing body cameras, three police-involved shootings in three weeks have unsettled residents and created a fight for transparency over the release of the footage. Loren Holmes/Anchorage Daily News via KeynoteUSA
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