ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - Representatives from across Alaska’s criminal justice community on Wednesday unveiled a new multi-faceted strategy for combating violent crime throughout the state. The plan appears to focus largely on shootings and other crimes committed using firearms.
“FBI statistics were released a couple weeks ago for 2016. If you look at those, you’ll see Alaska was rated, per capita, the state with the highest crime rate in the country, and Anchorage was the second highest ranking city in the country,” said acting U.S. Attorney Bryan Schroder at a press conference Wednesday afternoon.
The initiative seeks to improve the efficiency with which different local, state and federal law enforcement agencies cooperate on criminal investigations, as well making it easier to bring tougher federal charges against violent offenders.
“Folks might wonder, what's new? Because the state, the federal government, the local government, we've had a long cooperative relationship working together fighting crime,” said Alaska attorney general Jahna Lindemuth. “The way I look at this is that we're super-charging it.”
When asked if the crime strategy was a response to any issues possibly associated with Senate Bill 91, Lindemuth said, “Senate Bill 91, criminal justice reform, did not impact the sentencing for the most violent serious crimes that we’re talking about here today, so it really is completely irrelevant.”
Under the new strategy, a federal “duty agent” will be made available to respond to every murder scene and shooting scene in Anchorage, and in some cases statewide. The agent will assist local officers with the investigation, and help determine if federal charges may be appropriate.
“Often our federal statutes in violent crime cases and gun cases allow for stricter penalties, so we'll work quickly with the state to make a determination on where those cases ought to go and pick them up federally if it's appropriate,” Schroder said.
The strategy also establishes a task force within the bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives, which will examine ballistics evidence from every shooting in Anchorage to help investigators find links between various crime scenes across town.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, “there are already approximately 60 correlations between ballistics evidence at different crime scenes, and the ATF will be following up on each correlation to identify and prosecute the perpetrators of violent assaults in the most appropriate forum.”
The initiative also establishes a new program known as Project Real Time, which seeks to identify and federally prosecute the most violent offenders across the state.
“A lot of the shootings are done by a limited group of people, so if you can identify those people, investigate them and get them off the streets, you really get more bang for your buck in trying to fight violent crime in the city,” Schroder said.
Outside of Anchorage, the Anti-Violent Crime Strategy seeks to bring more federal charges against violent offenders in rural Alaska, including “domestic abusers who possess firearms,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
And finally, the Anti-Violent Crime Strategy calls for new programs aimed at reducing recidivism and preventing repeat offenders. A program called Project Face to Face would have prosecutors and police officers meet personally with high-risk inmates preparing to leave the prison system, helping them find ways to make sure they don’t end up back behind bars.
“The purpose of this project is to make clear that violence and drug trafficking by repeat offenders will not be tolerated, but help is available for all those who wish to break the cycle of violence, drug trafficking and gang activity to become productive citizens,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
“As we’re conducting our investigations, we tend to see the same names coming around again and again,” said Anchorage police chief Justin Doll. “This expanded capability will really allow us to focus on those people and try to prevent some of the violent crime that's happening.”
Schroder said the Anti-Violent Crime Strategy is, in part, a response to broader efforts by the Trump administration to tackle violent crime nationwide. However, the initiative has actually been in effect for about two months, predating a recent announcement by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions to reintroduce a similar 15-year-old violent crime reduction program called “Project Safe Neighborhoods.”
The Anti-Violent Crime Strategy in fact played a role in several recent criminal investigations in Anchorage. In one case, prosecutors were able to bring federal charges against two suspects accused of robbing two Anchorage coffee stands at gunpoint. The charges allege that the suspects interfered with state commerce after investigators found stolen coffee beans in the suspects’ vehicle that were imported from outside of Alaska.
“In the past two months, federal charges have been filed against 68 individuals in 56 separate violent crime cases,” prosecutors wrote in a press release. “This represents approximately twice as many indictments and defendants charged, compared to a similar two-month period last year.”
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