The Anchorage Police Department promoted a deputy chief and two captains Wednesday, filling leadership vacancies in a move police said will help the department pivot to a sharper focus on violent crimes and drug offenses.
The promotions also come in the wake of efforts by the administration of Mayor Ethan Berkowitz to beef up the salaries of police commanders so a promotion to a nonunion supervisory job wouldn't result in a big pay cut.
Kenneth McCoy, an APD captain who had been filling in as a deputy chief, was formally promoted to deputy chief Wednesday. He most recently commanded the patrol division and has worked at the department for more than two decades.
Two police lieutenants, Julie Shank and Kevin Vandegriff, have been promoted to captain.
Shank joined the department in 2003 and most recently headed units that handle special victims cases, such as sexual assault victims, crimes against children and cybercrimes.
Vandegriff is a retired military commander and longtime detective at the department. His APD career began in 1997 and includes the investigation of former Veco Corp. executive Bill Allen on sex crimes.
Retirements in recent months created the leadership vacancies, said APD Chief Justin Doll, at a Wednesday morning news conference. He noted that McCoy has been doing two jobs for some time.
"It will allow them to focus on their primary job responsibilities and not be spread quite as thin," Doll said.
Doll added that a fleshed-out leadership team helps APD pursue its priorities, like tackling violent crime and drugs, and giving officers more time to interact with neighborhood residents in between answering calls.
Had McCoy taken the deputy chief job sooner, it would have meant a substantial pay cut from his salary as a captain. The Anchorage Assembly voted in May 2016 to raise the pay of police captains, who are not represented by unions, in hopes of encouraging more internal candidates to come forward from union jobs.
At the time, the Assembly did not authorize pay raises for chiefs and deputy chiefs. Deputy chiefs were capped at about $121,000 in base annual salary.
That changed two weeks ago, when the Assembly voted to allow Berkowitz to substantially increase the salaries of the top police executives. Berkowitz approved those raises this week, according to City Manager Mike Abbott.
[Dozens of Anchorage city executives got big pay boosts earlier this year]
McCoy is now earning $169,000 in salary, a 4.4 percent increase from his pay as a captain, Abbott said. It's a 40 percent raise from the old salary cap, records show.
Doll got a large raise this week, as well: He is making $174,000 annually in base salary, according to Abbott.
That's a 7.5 percent increase from his previous salary as a captain, and a 40 percent raise from what the police chief was making when Berkowitz took office.
Doll acknowledged the timing of the promotions wasn't entirely coincidental.
"I do think encouraging skilled people to take on additional responsibility is difficult to do if their compensation isn't appropriate," Doll said. "It's definitely helpful."
In the coming weeks, Doll and Vandegriff said, officials plan to announce new plans for fighting violent street crime and property crime.
Vandegriff said he's been involved in discussions over how to tackle what appears to be a rise in violent crime in Anchorage. He said he expects to focus specifically on gun violence, and related issues tied to drugs.
Doll also said it's his goal to start giving patrol officers an hour or two of time that doesn't involve responding to a call. That might mean uniformed police officers showing up at community barbecues, biking around neighborhoods and chatting with business owners, he said.
With additional city funding from Berkowitz, the APD has added dozens of officers over the past two years.
The department now has roughly 414 sworn officers, with about 54 still in training. It's approaching the largest size in its history, eclipsed only by a period during the administration of Mayor Mark Begich.