The RTCC was approved by the previous Assembly and is located on Elmore Road in East Anchorage. Today, three current Assembly members are raising concerns about its risks. Sydney Scout, who represents North Anchorage, says that if she had served in the previous municipal government, she would not have approved it.
The discussion began with the potential threat to privacy. But since surveillance technology can no longer be removed, they propose setting limits on it.
Along with Scout, Assembly members Keith McCormick (South Anchorage) and Daniel Volland (Assembly vice chair) proposed restrictions. SOL DE MEDIANOCHE has tried to speak with them, and Sydney Scout has asked us to wait until after the September 15 community hearing for an in-depth conversation.
Rich Curtner, chair of the Alaska Black Caucus’s Justice Committee, tells us: “The issue is ensuring that public safety and individual privacy are balanced through a Public Safety Commission or an inspector general.”
Would increased surveillance make Anchorage a less free city? Curtner believes “it certainly could, without adequate safeguards in the Municipal Code.”
Michael Patterson, an activist, leader, and spokesperson for the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) in Anchorage, says: “The PSL opposes all mass surveillance. Mayor LaFrance and Police Chief Case are allowing certain aspects of law enforcement to be outsourced to a private corporation. They are privatizing law enforcement. AI-powered mass surveillance sacrifices our rights and our humanity. Anchorage is a testing ground—a police state. Democracy is at stake.”
Patterson’s references to Mayor Suzanne LaFrance stem from her support for the RTCC as a public safety strategy. But the controversy is not about whether LaFrance is “against residents’ privacy.” We will ask her about it. We will also interview Police Chief Case. His director of community relations, Gina Romero, has already scheduled the meeting.
Case and other RTCC supporters say the ability to “view and connect information in real time” makes it easier to locate a stolen vehicle or a missing person and improve incident response. They say the center is operated by people who cannot use facial recognition, which was banned in 2023. However, it remains unclear whether that ban applies to AI-based identification.
“We need to do a better job of informing the public,” says Erin Baldwin Day, an Assembly member representing Midtown Anchorage, who is calling for calm. “Between the extreme of potentially total surveillance of residents and the opposite extreme of absolute privacy, there are many possibilities in between. Nothing is entirely black or white; there is a broad spectrum of gray. The debate has been framed poorly. I don’t understand so much fear about violations of our privacy when we share intimate details of our lives on social media every day, seeking ‘likes’ and ‘followers’ the more, the better.”
“Let’s not take extreme positions. Video surveillance is already here. We accept it as normal when we walk into Walmart, Fred Meyer, or Costco, for example,” Erin continues. “Let’s have an open, calm, well-informed conversation about this surveillance and its limits. Reality already imposes limits because, even if someone wanted to turn Anchorage into a police state, where every resident was completely monitored and watched 24 hours a day, every day of every year, there would not be enough money to cover the costs. Technology exists. Surveillance must follow rules and procedures. Now, we need to clarify and expand those rules, procedures, and limits.”
The RTCC must report how often it obtains footage of events protected by the First Amendment, including demonstrations, gatherings, rallies, petition drives, and performances. In Anchorage, the controversy centers on how to use information to fight crime without treating the entire city as a suspect.
