Alaska News

Anchorage police prepare for presidential visit

Protests, parties, foreign dignitaries and flight restrictions: just a few of the upcoming hiccups Anchorage police and others are preparing to deal with as the president of the United States touches down in Alaska in just over a week.

There are three main challenges facing the Anchorage Police Department: the Arctic Council conference at the Dena'ina Center, the presidential visit and protesters, according to Police Chief Mark Mew.

That means more cops, more training and more costs.

"We're excited, like everybody, to have famous people come join us; we want to show off our town; we want to let them know that they can rely on us," Mew said. "But we also know it's a challenge for us and we don't want to make any errors."

The U.S. State Department is holding the Arctic conference downtown, and President Barack Obama will arrive and give a speech on Aug. 31. Obama is then expected to travel elsewhere in the state, with a home base in Anchorage.

Meanwhile, a slew of foreign ministers are expected to arrive.

Twenty countries will be represented at the conference, Sen. Lisa Murkowski said Thursday, including 11 foreign ministers. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov "is not coming, but that's not because Russia is snubbing us… their ambassador is coming," she said.

ADVERTISEMENT

"We are planning on (Secretary of State John Kerry) to be here," though it's not officially confirmed, Mew said.

And "now we have the president coming. And initially, that wasn't part of the plan. That was a late addition," Mew said. Normally, the president doesn't leave the base when he stops in to refuel, or at most for a few hours.

"This time ... he's living in a hotel in downtown Anchorage for three days," Mew said. "That's huge compared to our experiences in the past."

Meanwhile, Arctic drilling activities will ramp up -- adding another layer to the police department's activity in Anchorage, Mew said.

Figuring out how to deal with the massive staffing requirements has been a struggle, said Sgt. Gerard Asselin, president of the Anchorage Police Department Employees Association.

Normally, APD has about 22 officers and six sergeants on duty every day. For the events Aug. 31 through Sept. 2, they'll need an additional 49 officers and seven sergeants, Asselin said.

And it's far from a normal day on the beat: Officers will have to deal with vehicle escorts for dignitaries and potentially a variety of protesters.

That "isn't our normal thing," Asselin said. The police SWAT team is generally trained in both of those areas -- but there just aren't enough of them, Asselin said.

Last week, the police department trained more than 90 officers in handling driving escorts for dignitaries. And on Friday, officers received training for dealing with difficult protesters.

"So Shell starts punching holes up offshore in the Arctic, and that's controversial, and that activity attracts protesters," Mew said. "It's cheaper to protest in Anchorage than it is in Barrow or Nome or someplace," he said.

With international media descending on the city for Obama's visit, "we suspect there could be a lot of protesters in Anchorage," Mew said. "We don't have any special intelligence at this point that I'm aware of that we're going to have any trouble, but we think the potential is there for some folks to push the envelope."

But there will be space to rally, Mew said.

So far, Greenpeace and an anti-regulatory group have received permits to gather on the Delaney Park Strip on Aug. 31.

For the most part, the police will be manning the areas around the president's hotel, possibly blocking traffic. But just how far the perimeter will extend and how it will impact citizens isn't yet known.

"I just know downtown is going to look a little bit different for a few days," Asselin said.

"Between all the different agencies here, there are going to be a whole lot of federal agents in town," Mew said. The agents will do most of the heavy lifting, with police officers on hand to take care of the odd rowdy drunk and helping people get from place to place as quick as possible, Mew said.

Nevertheless, the costs are likely to run high -- hundreds of thousands of dollars -- with so many police officers working overtime.

ADVERTISEMENT

"Even now, I think it's a legitimate question for the taxpayers to ask," Mew said. "But typically you don't get reimbursed for an operation like this. When the president comes… cities bend over backwards" to meet the expectations of his security detail, Mew said.

But "there may be a point where we say to them, 'we're stretched too thin,'" Mew said.

Paying so many police officers overtime could have a "huge financial impact" on the city, Asselin said. The department is doing what it can to petition for federal funding.

This isn't the first time a sitting president has visited Anchorage, and some past visits have been trying.

President Bill Clinton once decided to wander off from the Anchorage Museum and head over to Tony Knowles' restaurant for some reindeer stew, Mew said. "It sent everybody into a tailspin" and somebody "crashed a police car trying to get over there," he said.

Erica Martinson

Erica Martinson is Alaska Dispatch News' Washington, DC reporter, and she covers the legislation, regulation and litigation that impact the Last Frontier.  Erica came to ADN after years as a reporter covering energy at POLITICO. Before that, she covered environmental policy at a DC trade publication and worked at several New York dailies.

Nathaniel Herz

Anchorage-based independent journalist Nathaniel Herz has been a reporter in Alaska for nearly a decade, with stints at the Anchorage Daily News and Alaska Public Media. Read his newsletter, Northern Journal, at natherz.substack.com

ADVERTISEMENT