An increased number of Anchorage police officers will hit the streets this weekend come bar break. Violent crimes outside the city's bars, including a shooting last Saturday night in Midtown and a fatal beating earlier in October downtown, have been a hot topic among residents for many years.
The Anchorage Police Department will be adding a minimum of eight patrol officers on the overnight shift during the weekends starting Friday. The additional cops will reportedly ramp up enforcement during bar break in the downtown area.
Some officers will patrol downtown avenues on foot; others will cruise Anchorage's urban center, packed with numerous bars, in their vehicles.
Currently, two to four officers patrol downtown on the weekends, said APD spokesperson Jennifer Castro. On average, the police department has 25 officers in a dozen areas around town. There's at least one officer in each area at any given time, and they respond to other areas when needed, she said.
Castro said the eight officers are not a long-term solution. The increase will happen for at least three weeks, she said. Officers from the 12 areas are being reassigned, and no overtime will result from the change, she said.
Outlying bars near downtown are not included in the area getting more cops, but they're close enough for officers to respond in timely manner, Castro said.
Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan's office announced the new efforts Friday afternoon. "We want to make sure that everyone can enjoy the downtown district and feel safe in our city," Sullivan said in a press release. The added officers "will deter crime and encourage residents to act safely and responsibly."
The mayor's office, the police department and downtown businesses and associations decided together to increase enforcement, according to Sullivan.
Gaslight Lounge owner John Patee participated in those discussions. He said he's encouraged by the decision.
"There's a lot that can be done to stop our customers from being victimized outside our businesses," Patee said.
The owner of Gaslight -- a large, single room featuring a mechanical bull as its centerpiece -- contends that particular perpetrators target late-night drinkers. "Street people," drug dealers and the like cause problems when the bars herd customers outside onto frozen sidewalks. However, Patee said problems arise within the bars from time to time, too.
The Gaslight is all too familiar with the crimes plaguing Anchorage bars. Early morning Oct. 19, police responded to multiple calls of a fight outside of the Gaslight Lounge that ended with 38-year old Adrian Augustine in critical condition. Officers arrived to find the man unconscious with serious injuries to his head and body. Augustine eventually died from the injuries.
Earlier this week, stakeholders participated in a workshop of sorts, prioritizing the downtown district's issues. The number one priority for the majority of attendants was getting more cops downtown. The group identified concentrating on the assailants as its second task, Patee said.
That could be done in a number of ways, including improved security technology.
A handful of bars -- the Gaslight, Chilkoot Charlie's, Bernie's Bungalow, Platinum Jaxx – use ID scanners to keep track of customers. Bar visitors' info is entered into a database along with a photo. Now, the bars are looking into sharing that data, so if a trouble maker starts making his or her rounds, all the bars with the tech will be alerted.
A more long-term goal is more cameras and lighting at parking lots near the bars.
Contact Jerzy Shedlock at jerzy(at)alaskadispatch.com. Follow him on Twitter @jerzyms.