Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy announced a new state-city partnership to address public safety concerns in Anchorage during his final State of the State address. Dunleavy said the city accounted for 55% of Alaska’s murders, 51% of sexual assaults, 67% of car thefts, and more than 78% of robberies in 2024. Police Chief Sean Case welcomed the state’s assistance but disputed the governor’s framing, arguing that larger cities naturally experience higher crime rates than smaller jurisdictions.
The partnership will coordinate prosecution efforts across city and state lines, allowing municipal prosecutors to handle certain state felony cases and state prosecutors to address some city misdemeanors—addressing a documented gap where cases slip through due to unclear jurisdictional responsibility.
Alaska and Anchorage announce crime-fighting partnership
Gov. Mike Dunleavy painted a stark picture during his final State of the State address. Anchorage, Alaska’s largest city, accounted for 55% of the state’s murders, 51% of sexual assaults, 67% of car thefts, and more than 78% of robberies in 2024, he said. Dunleavy emphasized that crime rates had dropped significantly statewide during his tenure, adding: “If you take Anchorage out of the mix, our state’s overall crime rate is well below the national average.”
Police Chief Sean Case heard a different interpretation. “It’s a lot more complicated and complex than that,” Case said. He cautioned against comparing Anchorage’s crime rates to those of smaller cities or rural areas, where lower populations naturally produce lower crime tallies. “We expect that Anchorage’s crime rate is going to be higher than Homer’s or a smaller jurisdiction,” he said, “that, generally, if you look at crime stats across the country, are going to have lower criminal activity.”
Yet Case welcomed the partnership Dunleavy announced—one that emerged from months of discussion between state and city officials about how to coordinate public safety efforts better. The underlying problem is practical: cases slip through the cracks between jurisdictions. The city typically prosecutes misdemeanors while the state handles felonies, and gaps in communication sometimes result in crimes that should be prosecuted going unaddressed. “One of the first things that we talked to the state about is when some of those crimes disappear or don’t get prosecuted, that doesn’t mean there’s not a lower-level misdemeanor crime that the municipality could adopt,” Case said.
The partnership divides into three components. The first targets what state officials describe as “quality of life” crimes—retail theft, public drug use, and illegal camping. State Attorney General-designee Stephen Cox explained the reasoning: “On quality of life matters, it’s our view that disorder, this public disorder, it breeds crime, and law and order prevents it.”
Anchorage police recently wrapped up a targeted enforcement campaign on retail theft through the holiday season. City leaders are also considering code changes to better address public nuisances including intoxication and indecent exposure. The state will now provide additional prosecution resources and coordinate across multiple departments to reinforce the city’s efforts.
The second component involves training municipal prosecutors to handle state felony cases. Under the new arrangement, city prosecutors will be cross-designated to bring state felony retail theft cases directly, eliminating the prior requirement that the state handle all felonies itself. State prosecutors, in turn, will be cross-designated to handle Anchorage misdemeanors related to illegal camping and other public nuisances, Cox said.
The partnership’s third component focuses on intercepting drugs and reducing violent crime, particularly sexual assault. The state is in the early stages of developing improved coordination with postal services and airports to catch drugs when they arrive in Alaska.
Police Chief Case expressed particular hope on the violent crime front. “One of the things that we think the state can help out is taking more of those cases, moving them forward, taking them to grand jury, and moving that process further down the line,” he said. “We have so many victims in the state, particularly when it comes to sexual assault, and as a state and as a city, that has to be one of our top priorities.”
Dunleavy said he expects all three components to be operational by spring. Cox, the incoming attorney general, is awaiting a confirmation vote from the Legislature before assuming office.