patrol division

Patrol Officers

Uniformed police officers are the largest workgroup within our organization, and they are generally the men and women who instantly come to mind when the word “police” is mentioned.  Our department has three patrol shifts:  Days (7am – 5pm), Swings (3pm – 1am), and Mids (11pm – 9am).  Our officers patrol from Knik River Bridge on the north side, to Ingram Creek on the south side, more than 1900 square miles, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

When our officers respond to a call for service, their goal is two-fold.  The first part is to find a resolution to the current situation.  Sometimes that includes an arrest, and other times simply having a conversation with the persons involved is the best solution.  The second half of the goal is attempting to keep the same problem from reoccurring in the future.  If the officer is able to provide guidance that will allow people to make different decisions going forward, then sometimes that is enough to make a situation better in the long-term.  Other times the officer may not be able to correct the problem him/herself but he/she is able to provide our citizens with services offered by other organizations who can help with the problem.  Regardless of the solution, our officers do their very best to leave a situation in a better condition than what it was in when they first arrived on the scene.

All sworn officers begin their career in Patrol.  That is where they learn all of the core values of good police work.  Some of our officers spend their entire career working the beat.  Others go on to specialized assignments to include K9, Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT), Crisis Negotiation Team (CNT) Crime Scene Team, Anchorage Bomb Squad, School Resource Officer (SRO), Crisis Intervention Team (CIT), Investigative Support Unit (ISU), Community Action Policing (CAP), Impaired Driving Enforcement Unit (IDEU), Detectives, or the Major Collision Investigative Unit (MCIU).

BEAT MAPS

In 2019, APD reorganized the areas in which officers patrol to more closely align with community council areas. The idea behind the restructure was to encourage the feeling of community policing because officers are typically assigned to work the same beat during each shift. Seeing the same officers in the neighborhood and having those officers attend community council meetings when available helps strengthen relationships with the community and reinforces our community policing philosophy. See patrol beat maps.

Warrants Unit

Our Warrants Unit, comprised of officers, a sergeant, and several police clerks, is housed in the Boney Courthouse.  The location allows for easy collaboration between APD, the Prosecutor’s Office, the District Attorney’s Office, the Department of Corrections and the Alaska Department of Public Safety.

 Officers assigned to Warrants are responsible for serving court paperwork and orders, monitoring in-custody defendants, conducting follow-up for the District Attorneys and Prosecutors, conducting compliance checks on Domestic Violence Restraining Orders and related Conditions of Release, and arresting those who have outstanding warrants.

Our Warrants Police Clerks maintain and enter municipal domestic violence protective orders and warrants into a statewide database which allows that information to be accessed by law enforcement agencies throughout the state.