Anchorage police chief backs statewide accreditation bill (SB 53), urges Assembly support

Detective-turned-presenter and APD Chief Christopher Case told the committee on Feb. 5 that he supports Senate Bill 53, a statewide measure introduced by Senator Grama Jackson that would create a three-tier accreditation system for police policy manuals and require all Alaska agencies to attain at least a baseline (tier 1) accreditation.

Chief Case said a statewide policy manual project funded by an Alaska Municipal League grant has produced a draft manual that agencies could adopt and tailor to local needs; SB 53 would add accreditation standards to that work so certain best-practice standards remain consistent even after local modification. He said the bill is modeled on national standards from CALEA but would be tailored and tiered to account for differences between urban and rural agencies in Alaska.

Case said the lowest tier would establish core operational standards that even very remote agencies could meet, while higher tiers would impose more demanding requirements for larger jurisdictions. He asked the committee in advance of hearings to consider supporting SB 53 and to be mindful of the bill’s fiscal note so smaller agencies have resources to meet any required standard.

Assembly members asked about cost, wage impacts and the accrediting entity; Case said the accreditation would apply to organizations, not individual officers, and that the CALEA model has about 70 standards and can be costly. He said APD does not expect significant changes to its existing policies if the state accreditation system is adopted, and that APD would likely adopt the statewide manual while continuing to fit its local policy to the new accreditation requirements.

No formal Assembly action on SB 53 occurred at the Feb. 5 meeting; Chief Case requested that members consider offering support as the bill proceeds through the legislative process.