Anchorage pedestrian deaths spiked 150% after Assembly ends jaywalking as an offense

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Pedestrian fatalities in Anchorage jumped by 150% in 2024, a surge that follows the Assembly’s decision to eliminate penalties for jaywalking. In October of 2023, the Anchorage Assembly ordinance went into effect, removing fines for crossing streets outside of marked or unmarked crosswalks. In the year that followed, the Anchorage Police Department’s inaugural annual report shows a sharp rise in deadly pedestrian-involved car crashes and deaths, part of a broader increase in fatal collisions across the city.

The 2024 Annual Report by the Anchorage Police Department details public safety operations, crime statistics, officer activity, and internal affairs and is a snapshot of law enforcement trends in the state’s largest city, covering violent crime, arrests, traffic incidents, and complaints about officers. The report does not link Assembly policy with the increase in pedestrian deaths.

Below is a breakdown of the major findings highlighted in the 2024 report:

Violent and Property Crime
  • Homicides: 34 reported in 2024.
  • Assaults and Robberies: 2,094 combined incidents.
  • Burglaries: 923 reported cases.
  • Missing Persons: 518 reports; 40 individuals remain missing.
  • Officer-Involved Shootings: 8 incidents, resulting in 5 suspect fatalities.
Traffic Enforcement and Fatalities
  • Traffic Citations: 29,118 total, marking a 2% decrease from 2023.
    • Speeding Citations: 10,697 (15 fewer than in 2023).
    • Operating Under the Influence (OUI): 1,476 total
      • 292 OUI incidents involved collisions.
      • 1,184 OUI incidents did not involve collisions.
      • Total OUIs were down 84 compared to 2023.
  • Fatal Crashes:
    • Overall fatal crashes increased 93%.
    • Non-pedestrian fatal crashes rose 27%.
    • Pedestrian fatalities surged 150%.
    • One-third of fatal crashes involved speeding.
    • 75% involved alcohol and/or drugs.
    • 29 fatal crashes recorded in 2024—the highest since 2005.
Officer-Initiated Activity
  • Officer-Initiated Arrests: 38,697.
  • Officer-Initiated Activity (Non-Arrest): 4,270 incidents.
  • Subject Stops: 8,465.
  • Traffic Stops: 34,147.

Internal Affairs and Commendations

  • Complaints Received: 335.
  • Complaints Investigated: 335 (100% investigation rate).
  • Commendations Issued: 504.
  • Sustained Complaints: 98.
  • Unsustained Complaints: 237.
Top Five Complaint Categories:
  1. General Conduct: 109 allegations.
  2. Duty Requirements: 103 allegations.
  3. Use of Police Vehicles: 93 allegations.
  4. Obedience to Laws: 38 allegations.
  5. Response to Resistance: 38 allegations.
Use-of-Force Incidents
  • Grab Holds: 1,165.
  • Pinnings or Pryings: 249.
  • Vehicle Blocking or Box-ins: 176.
  • Other Takedown Techniques: 172.
  • Figure four takedown: 120.
  • Vehicle pin: 103.
  • Tackle: 75.
  • Thigh lock: 744.
  • Push-pull takedown: 70.
  • Miscellaneous Use of Force (“Other”): 148.

Read the annual report for 2024 at this link.

11 COMMENTS

    • isn’t this a perfect market based correction based on Friedman? seems the correct application of market forces to solve a problem, offenders won’t do that again. remove the policy and then live will go back to the “good old days”

      exactly what is being applied country wide via the Project @025. the sheep are too stupid so we’ll remove the market barriers and let the markets correct. jay walking isn’t likely in gated communities os the upper classes can’t live quietly and safely from the unwashed masses.

      love the Hyden applications of market chaos to solve all our problems, being rich helps too. pesky policies seem to be applied to the lower heathens and not our god fearing Sunday “we’re the best…….”

  1. Wayne, I agree, Mark Twain once noted that statistics do not lie, however Liars use statistics…

    Clearly this report has been sanitized to cover the political fannies of the Anchorage Assembly.

    • From what I can count, there were 15 pedestrian deaths-by-vehicles in 2024. I’m 99% certain that number is correct. It is not in the report, but I counted it up. – sd

  2. This is a surprise to absolutely noone with a lick of common sense. The Anchorage Ass-embly should be held to account for those senseless deaths in the same way that they would be if they declared it is no longer necessary to have life jackets in a boat. Even though they did not directly cause death, they most surely have blood on their cringing, trembling, conniving, soft liberal hands.

  3. This is the inevitable outcome of leftist (read that as toddler) level thinking.
    Problem: A disproportionate number of minorities, natives, vagrants are getting tickets for jaywalking.
    Assumed cause: The police are racist pigs that target people because of their skin color.
    Solution: Decriminalize behavior to avoid an uncomfortable statistic.
    Result: More minorities/natives/vagrants get run over and killed.
    .
    Actual adults can foresee the outcome of knee jerk childish reactions like this. Toddlers, errr… I mean leftists cannot, or worse, refuse to acknowledge them.

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