The Anchorage Police Department (APD) will use these ALPR (Automated License Plate Recognition) cameras, which are not Flock cameras but will record license plates and the geographic coordinates where they are scanned. The data will be deleted after 14 days, and access will be audited to track who views them, and when. The ALPR cameras will be part of the RTCC (Real-Time Crime Center). The companies contracted by the Municipality of Anchorage are ThunderCat Technology and Axon/Fūsus.
Axon, a law enforcement technology company, owns Fūsus, which it acquired in 2024. But Fūsus was created to integrate cameras that do not belong to the police. Authorities need to explain this.
Will the data be destroyed after 14 days? No. If a detective uses them as evidence, they will remain accessible for two years. And not all sources of video centralized through Fūsus follow the same deletion schedule. Learning these details would require consulting documents that the Municipality has not made public.
ThunderCat Technology LLC will install the infrastructure and provide technical support. These companies have ties to the Departments of State, Defense, Homeland Security, and Justice, as well as the FBI and federal immigration agencies. Once again, the Anchorage authorities must provide an explanation.
Assembly member Erin Baldwin Day, who represents Downtown Anchorage, wants transparency. She understands that “the relationship with federal agencies” causes “concern” and that this concern “turns to fear when ICE” (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) “is mentioned.” But she tries to reassure residents: “Can all this technology be put to use? Yes. But it would require enormous resources that the Municipality doesn’t have. There’s no budget for it.”
Erin insists: “We need to provide Anchorage residents with clear, transparent information and open an honest dialogue, free from political interference or propaganda. Many cameras in Anchorage capture a vehicle’s type or color, but they don’t read license plates or identify drivers—which is also prohibited. They’re old, and their SD cards don’t have enough storage capacity. When the memory fills up, newer recordings overwrite older ones.”
