Assemblyman Felix Rivera on Tuesday introduced a resolution that would have the Anchorage Assembly support certain state bills offered by Sen. Elvi Gray-Jackson that put restrictions on police actions. The package of legislation, Senate Bills 1, 3, 3, 4, 7, and 46, relate to how police perform their duties when they are in the middle of a serious police response. Police would be prohibited from using choke holds, and would be required to use “de-escalation techniques.” They would have to warn someone before shooting them. They would not be able to shoot at a moving vehicle.
The measure introduced at the Anchorage Assembly would give the nod of approval for the variety of measures in these bills, but the resolution didn’t make it far.
Assemblywoman Jamie Allard quickly moved to table it indefinitely. No one seconded her motion, but East Anchorage member Forrest Dunbar nearly simultaneously moved to postpone the vote until April 12, and that received a second from West Anchorage member Austin Quinn-Davidson, who sits beside him on the dais.
Although Allard’s motion was made first, Chair Suzanne LaFrance didn’t recognize it and ask if there was a second, but instead recognized Dunbar’s motion.
It was an effort by the liberal Assembly members to not have to go on the record between now and the April 5 municipal election deadline, when members Dunbar, Meg Zaletel, Kameron Perez-Verdia, and John Weddleton are up for reelection. In the end, the move to postpone passed unanimously, with Allard maintaining that her motion to postpone indefinitely had not been properly recognized.
