By Tataboline Brant, Anchorage Daily News
A new police discipline report shows Anchorage officers rarely draw complaints or compliments from the public about conduct, but between 10 and 20 officers are written up annually for “avoidable traffic accidents.”
The report shows that from 2000 to the end of August 2004, police had more than 1 million contacts with the public, resulting in 990 complaints. Of those, 205 were found to be valid. In that same period, police tracked about 650 compliments.
“I think it shows we’re a very clean department,” said Lt. Paul Honeman, commander of Internal Affairs. “That’s not to say we don’t make mistakes -- we’re human.”
APD officials said last week that they plan to publish conduct statistics online soon as a way of instilling more public confidence in police, a goal listed in a five-year strategic plan the department released earlier this fall.
Asked for similar statistics, an Alaska State Trooper official said there was not a reasonable way to retrieve them.
Police Chief Walt Monegan said the APD last year purchased a new database program that among other things allows for better tracking of officer conduct. The system will help police be more accountable to the public and better identify internal problems that need to be addressed through training or discipline, he said. “It brings us to a higher level of professionalism.”
On average, about 25 Anchorage police officers are formally disciplined each year out of 350 or so on the force, the report shows. That does not include verbal warnings. Most of the officers disciplined in the last 4 ½ years received a written reprimand, although the report shows four terminations of fully trained officers and nine suspensions.
The offenses ranged from using inappropriate language to failing to document an investigation to negligently discharging a firearm.
By far the most common -- about 15 a year on average -- was “avoidable traffic accident,” which has spotted the record of patrol officers and sergeants, detectives, K-9 officers, even a captain, the report shows.
Honeman said that for the average patrol officer, “their car is their office.” They spend a lot of time driving and have to do things normal drivers are discouraged from: talking on a radio, looking at a mobile computer, sometimes rushing to calls.
Even so, he said, “we expect our officers to drive safely.” When they don’t -- even if the avoidable accident occurs as they’re speeding to a crime scene with their siren on -- the department takes it seriously, he said.
The APD spends $200,000 to $250,000 annually on fixing or replacing cruisers that have been damaged, Honeman said. He did not know how much of that is for avoidable accidents.
One fully trained officer was terminated from the APD in 2001 for failing to comply with rules and regulations, the report says. The other three, also patrol officers, were fired last year for “performance of duty, deliberate inaccurate reporting of stats.”
Citing personnel confidentiality laws, Honeman declined to elaborate on the 2003 cases except to say the officers were not working together. He said that, in general, if an officer is caught being “dishonest in any way, that could and probably would lead to termination.” Officers have to have credibility to get warrants, testify at trials and maintain the public trust, he said.
Retirement, not discipline, is the single biggest reason officers have left the APD over the last few years. The department has lost 79 that way.
The trend is expected to keep up for a few more years and is a concern among top police officials, who say the department is already down 93 officers. APD is working to offset the loss by stepping up its recruitment efforts and training academies.
Dr. Robert Langworthy, director of the University of Alaska Anchorage Justice Center, said there is no national standard for collecting police conduct data, so it’s difficult to compare one department to another. But, he said, it is reasonable to conclude from the APD statistics that egregious behavior there is rare.
Monegan said overall he is “very proud” of the men and women he works with.
“If you look at all the contacts we make, they are in an emotional environment,” he said. People are often fearful, angry or upset over having had to wait, he said.
“Nobody calls us and invites us over when things are rosy. So we drop into an emotional maelstrom and are expected to put things back in order. Do we do it all of the time? No. Do we do it most of the time? Yes.”