Anchorage police chief says APD and Assembly relationship is strained

By
Suzanne Downing
-
63

At the beginning of an Anchorage Assembly work session Friday on the proposed repeal of the “scofflaw” ordinance, Anchorage Police Chief Michael Kerle took a moment to express what many in the community have already seen:

“It is my opinion and the opinion of others in the police department that the Assembly and the Police Department have a very adversarial relationship right now,” he said.

Kerle said he had lost sleep the night before in anticipation of the meeting with the Assembly.

“It’s been confusing to me,” Kerle added. “I don’t understand why. I’m not a political figure, my department is not a political department. We have the same goals as the Assembly. I mean my two goals are the safety of the citizens of Anchorage and the safety of my department, those are my main goals.”

The Assembly, under the radical leadership of the past 18 months, has grown increasingly hostile to the police in general. The Assembly was not hostile when Ken McCoy was police chief of Anchorage, but then he was one of them — a hardline political operative who dressed left.

Kerle, a U.S. Marine veteran, has been with the department since joining APD as a recruit in the Academy in 1996. He became chief on Feb. 1, 2022.

“I look at the experience of my command staff alone … over 110 years of police experience. You might say we’re experts. We’ve been trained by the F.B.I., and every other other federal agency, the Southern Police Institute [Louisville, KY], which is a police training facility, Northwestern University,” he said, and added more.

“We know the law, we’re use-of-force experts, traffic experts, we go to a lot of training. We are the public safety experts,” Kerle said.

He reminded the Assembly that the police force also has very diverse backgrounds, and that while he had 11 years as a military commissioned officer, others have worked in the past as managers at Sears and Carrs, or were former police officers with other agencies.

“It seems as of late that we’ve been left out of a lot of the initial – and this is one of them — a lot of the initial drafting of these ordinances or changes that are proposed,” Kerle said.

In the case of the repeal of the scofflaw ordinance, it’s being offered by hard-left Assemblyman Felix Rivera, who is demonstrably more interested in gay and Black Lives Matter issues than actual community safety.

Kerl said that the Assembly members’ minds are already made up by the time he or his department has a chance to comment on the proposals that affect public safety.

When Public Safety is not involved, and then minds are made up, it’s hard for the department to have any reasonable input, he said.

Assemblywoman Meg Zaletel, who was chairing the meeting, moved into a defensive vocal fry as she responded, saying that maybe the Assembly would “look into greater collaboration.”

A vocal fry is a growl at the end of sentences that some younger women use to try to sound more authoritative.

Read: Vocal fry is about power, status, gender

The current scofflaw program in Anchorage allows police to impound a vehicle owned by someone with at least $1,000 in delinquent traffic fines.

At the June 6 Assembly meeting, Rivera introduced an ordinance to fully repeal what he calls the “regressive Scofflaw program. This program serves no true public safety purpose and is an effective tax on poverty.”

Read the draft ordinance at this link.

The work session, including Chief Kerle’s remarks, can be watched on YouTube at this link:

63 COMMENTS

    • Constant will throw a chrissy fit over the chief pointing out common sense about public safety and use it to get rid of him.
      We simply cant have a safe secure system in place to protect citizens from out of control outlaws who simply refuse to follow the law.
      If he doesnt get his way he will get even. I can smell it coming.

  2. The police are policy enforcers. They have taken an oath to secure and defend the US Constitution. They are obliged to secure and defend rights of people. This leftist assembly of comrades coalesce with international cooperative groups who do not elevate the US Constitution but elevate green new deals as priorities or bike infrastructures in Alaska’s largest city. The assembly wouldn’t know a Constitutional right or limitation if they tripped over it. No wonder there is tension as the assembly has abandoned allegiance to the guaranteed rights of the people. The policy enforcement should remain those expressed in the declaration of Independence and the US Constitution.

  3. If you have $1000 worth of delinquent traffic fines or parking fines. you and your vehicle, or a public nuisance, and should not be on the streets. We have laws and ordinances for the betterment of our community. If you cannot enforce them, then you do not have a civil society.

    • A civil society grows out of the group of people who accept stipend benefit and give up their sovereignty as “we the people” for the temporary time they “serve”. They must civilly listen to the expressed free political speech of their neighbors advising on the community preferences and guidelines. This “civil society” comports with similarly occupied public servants in other nations who follow International Law of Nations. The International Law of Nations has definitions. They may not be American in nature. They don’t run America . America is sovereign and independent as a nation and has a FORM that is guaranteed: legislative, executive and judicial. When you start seeing forms different than these three branches, only, then you know you have a foreign to our capitalist, confederate FORM of government and not our republic which is guaranteed. For example when you see a form of Legislative, Executive, Judicial, Administrative do you now see four co-equal legs on the republic? You know you have a foreign, FORM of government taking over. Typically these attempts are from the stateless, City of London directed by: foreign monarchs, religious organizations, prime ministers corporations etc.). That is how we lose our FORM of government. The revolution ended that payola from American inhabitants directly to payments remitted as commanded by off-shore entities with no direct, straight-forward linkages to the people, by the people and for the people republic. Our form of government has only those three branches. CDC, WHO,SEC,NIH etc are not equivalent to the Judiciary, Executive, Legislative Branches. This is an impolite issue coming up.
      .
      Our education has been so poor that we believe that people not bound to securing and defending our Constitutional rights are required to talk nice. That we the people must be civil when speaking our must important speech, political, audible speech in assembly. I am not bound to secure and defend your US Constitutional rights – all or any of them. The stipend receiving CITIZEN (representing the free people) must exhibit civility or be removed. You see how backwards half the state’s population is? The other one-half of the state population who do not reside within city of Anchorage are as incompletely educated on civil matters that they also don’t realize only elected or appointed representatives are members of a civil society and are citizens. Citizens have traded sovereignty for a benefit – a stipend. They will be hopefully free men again when their term is up and then it is someone else’s turn to serve as a citizen civilly representing and securing and defending the mercantile constitutional rights in this visonage.

  4. Possibly their police should look hard at who they endorse next election cycle.. the union leaders want politicians who give pay raises and benefits to, however rank and file police officers who work the streets want politicians who support safety and the rule of law. Generally when the police of fire unions endorse a candidate. I see a red flag

  5. When you complain, you make a problem sound worse than it actually is. The Democrats here are listening to complaining constituents who are on the Scofflaw list for being an arrogant individual and bad driver or just being plain stupid. I saw a democrat arguing with a UAA police officer just for pulling him over, the officer look like he was giving the man a ticket for his bad driving. The driver look like a jerk too. Then I saw another woman over on hillside on O’Malley she was getting a ticket too and she was arguing with the officer. She didn’t look like a jerk but she did look stupid. Just the two who would waste time complaining to the democrat leadership like Felix Rivera, while both being dumb dangerous drivers the type who’d wreck their own car for making a stupid driver error.

  6. The Alaska native adult living in Anchorage demographic is unemployed at a static forty (40) percent unemployed due to racial discrimination active within Anchorage hiring behavior. So natives will lose their vehicles at a forty (40) percent higher rate. So bye bye property rights of natives. Thanks.

    Travelling or driving is a constitutional right. Pursuit of happiness to anywhere that makes he or she happier. These liberals want to convert the right to travel the King’s Highway to a privilege and charge government fee for it. Illegal. The behavior of a tyrant is Aggressive.

    • G. nobody is given a traffic ticket for being unemployed. I know that when I’m on thin financial ice, I skate carefully.

    • You’ll find the constitutional right to drive right (pun!) next to the constitutional separation of church and state.

    • Driving is not a right. It never has been. And you won’t have your vehicle impounded for being unemployed. You won’t be ticketed for being unemployed. Drive and park in a law abiding manner and you’re golden.

      • Travel is still expressed in horse power. Travel was done by horse, horse and carriage, and horse wagon. Licensing is done to accommodate safe interstate commerce. Most of us are not commercial drivers. Commercial drivers are the ones who need to be licensed. A free man may drive his vehicle where he wishes. On equal footing doctrine in our perfect union of states. The mere fact that our rights are curbed in contraversion of the US Constitutional rights doesn’t mean that the US Constitution will not be totally restored eventually. But it’s not for everybody I suppose.

        • There are stare decisis cases already that can and should be applied as in other equal footing regions. People cannot even imagine freedom unfortunately.

          • You can not have everyone using their own logic to interpret traffic laws. My dad drove on what ever side of the road he wanted because he paid taxes on both sides.

      • That is pure statist BS, Greg. You sound like one of the mindless sycophants of authority like Whidbey or Murine for even repeating that lie.

        EVEYRTHING is a right, unless it violates the equal rights of others.

    • That is a nonsensical approach and unviable argument, Galeutian.

      One may wonder that said argument is of a personal affective nature.

      So, tell me.

      Are Alaskan Natives truly subject to losing their vehicles at a 40% rate based upon the scofflaw rule?

      And more so, are Alaskan Natives really at an unemployed rate of 40% within Anchorage, for discrimination, or any other reason?

      I call bull upon that claim.

      Within other words, prove it.

      • Absolutely. They are unhired and unliked by privileged pink noses. SO they are less likely to have that asset. They are like many pink noses taught to drive the asset by family who are not professional drivers due to lack of funds. They obtain a vehicle in their youth and most inexperienced days and may like similar pink noses commit driving errors segregious and small. They are more likely than pink noses to receive citations. When they receive citation(s) they have less familial disposable cash to pay them. Agencies are not only reticent to make “arrangements” for payments in lieu they are actually malicious and hostile even and most especially the women who are neither ladies nor gentleman. This may be sufficient except to say: these statistics may be instantly gleaned even by the hostile public servants in this glacial pocket of morans. Jesus loves you.

    • Get a fine pay a fine. Just because you’re native doesn’t give you more rights than the average Alaskan.

    • “Driving” is not a right, of course you can drive on your farm all you want. If you want to drive on public roadways it is a “privilege” granted (after payment of course) to those who; 1. have current registration on their vehicle. 2. properly insured with state minimums for liability. 3. have a “safe” operating vehicle. 4. And a driver with a legal driver’s license. Just sayin.

  7. Culture of crime that go’s against a once law and order nation because of lenient laws has taken a toll on the purpose of what police are trained to curtail. Example; theft of 4,000 vehicles in one year under Berkowitz, shop lifting, vandalizing our parks, littering etc. Law abiding people become the victims.
    South of the border culture of take anything that’s not nailed down has drifted to Alaska 🙁

  8. The seizing of vehicles where the city has no nexus makes Anchorage seen for what it is, a nasty crass place. So people will hate it and the assembly and move. That’s great. Vote with your feet against these rotten assembly people.

  9. Open hostility towards public safety? It seems the Assembly continues to build a strong legal case for why assembly members may not have legal protection/immunity from personal/civil lawsuits filed by citizens.

    • Freedom to travel, to be secure from property seizure by tyrants. What kind of world were the founders speaking of. Certainly not Alaska, Alaskans or Canadians. Good to know that so many are against the rights expressed in the US Constitution that some have heroically fought for. The very idea of being secure in our property rights. Horrors! Use yer best judgement eh. The governmint is not your nanny.

  10. I like this Police Chief, I’ll bet that after the exchange noted in this story he might be given his walking papers. The Chief, being a man of integrity probably won’t get too exercised for doing what is right, in fact he will likely sleep better for it, come what may.

    Tyrants don’t share power or take suggestions as to how the world really works especially with those who wear a uniform. The uniformed group is supposed to be merely the muscle of the Tyrant, a tool if you will. Questioning the Tyrant never ends well and usually ends badly for the brave questioner.

  11. I hope that they’re not right off giving out $50 tickets if you had a burnt out bulb. Should be a warning with a window of 10-14 days getting it fixed. That’s what they do in Jber as your passing through gate. The officer makes note in system under your name been given a warning has 14 days to comply.
    But if you get pulled over a 2nd time same thing then administer a $30 ticket but have a means if they go to court and shows it has been fixed waive the ticket. Those are just minimum requirements for the fines. I really am non tolerant if drivers do not have insurance. But if they can prove or get insurance show to judge then I’m fine with ticket being waived. $1000 is very reasonable

    • Is that what the US Constitution expressly states? If not it is stuff made up. Our rights are the law.

  13. I have voted against that creep Rivera each time he was on the ballot, including a recall election. It is a hard reality, but ‘democracy’ means that degenerate idiots will sometimes – no, often – win elections. I haven’t lost all hope, but look at who occupies the Oval Office.

  14. If you don’t laugh you cry. So the police have a restrained relationship with the police, Then why in the world
    do all of the unions including the police and fire vote these extremists in? Zalatel, Constant, Rivera couldn’t solve a problem if it slapped them in the face. We are trending just like Democrat cities all over the country towards homeless , also the criminals taking over. Just continue putting these alcoholics, drug addicts etc in homes and let them continue to run the town. Am I not sympathetic to homeless, Not at all. however, those who are homeless need to step up and ask for help to help themselves . Do they want to? Ask Constant, he only helps Mark Begich get richer. Who owns the 40th and Denali empty lot where they are going to put the homeless camp.

    • “Then why in the world do all of the unions including the police and fire vote these extremists in?”

      Because these extremists approve pay raises that gets kicked back to them in the form of union dues. Scott Walker, governor of Wisconsin was so awesome because he attacked this system head on and beat them. But it was temporary.

  15. Umm…Does the issuing agency, that is law enforcement, check the credit scores or income of the owner of said vehicles before issuing said tickets or fines?

    No?

    Then how exactly can said such action be called a ‘regressive’ Scofflaw program.

    ‘This program serves no true public safety purpose and is an effective tax on poverty.’

    Once again, the special-education, short-bus Assembly Member Felix Rivera shows his lack of intelligence and common sense based solely upon his sore butt, figuratively thought process, which he demonstrates time after time again.

    There is obtuse, there is idiocy, there is moronic, there is embarrassingly stupid, and then there is Felix Rivera, who is only allowed to sit at the table of morons so as to amuse them as being two levels of intelligence above him, which is three levels below that of the average intelligence of the individual populace.

    To say you were an idiot, Felix, would be a compliment..

    • Felix carries someone’s water…or he has a “how to turn your city into the next San Francisco or Portland” playbook. He’s attempting to defund and neuter the police force under the radar.

      Didn’t this same Assembly vote against the $$ requested by APD to keep their fleet of vehicles in good condition? That’s a sneaky way of defunding the police.

    • Thanks for conveying my exact thoughts regarding Felix.
      Im not sure if it would be entertaining or just plain disgusting to see/hear his constituents if he actually has any.
      Anyone else want to pitch in for a mandatory full face soundproof mask for Felix to help ease the pain of his duration as a public serpent? oops servant. (my bad)

  16. In every other state I lived in
    ( CA, UT, WY) if you don’t pay
    your fines an arrest warrant is
    issued and when the police find
    you, you go to jail and your car
    impounded.

    • When government is not republican in form and conduct it is the conduct of a tyrant. “We declare for our heirs who inhabit the colonies AND EVERYONE OF THEIR CHILDREN, TO JAMES Heirs (I directly am one per geneology)) SHALL HAVE ALL RIGHTS…Trickery goes to forfeiture. There were organic laws in the forming in the United States written June 30, 1609, printed in 1609 and 1611. Why are these not taught in Anchorage? Someone doesn’t want you to read and comprehend your rights so they can bring in false, misleading interpretations so as to trick the colonists, inhabitants out of their rights using improper English contoured to the usurper purposes. Our bill of rights is THE LAW. Hale v Hinkle. Assemblyman are not King’s. They are servants. We literally pay them and direct them and their activities. Servants do not Dictate to the people. They do not prosecute with false claims, stuff made up in assembly meetings we pay for. THey don’t get to tamper creatively with due process. That is illegal, pernicious group public behavior. The right to speak in public meetings comes from The first charter of Virginia gave the right to speak aloud in Parliament since April 14 1604. The first Charter in America by LAND and WATER shall establish libertiesand free customs. You don’t get to infringe our rights and then charge for it. It would be illegal trickery conduct of 🦖 tyrants. There was an English Bill of Rights too signed by Prince William and Princess Mary of Orange in Persona (ring stamp). Our American Rights added to did not expunge the English Bill of Rights.

  17. As long as people vote for these people who seem to be working more for the World Economic Forum than the residents of Anchorage, Anchorage will continue the downward slide. Democrats need to see something besides the letter “D” to vote for and actually see if that person does anything for them. At this point in time, that may be asking for too much. A real pity.

  18. I tip my cap to Anchorage Police Chief Michael Kerle. Chief Kerle has laid out the gospel TRUTH. and deserves the communities THANKS AND 100% SUPPORT
    I am certain tacit agreement may surface from the Assembly. just before they lower the boom on the Chief.
    Mr. Constant is certainly lathering up his forces to openly destroy Chief Kerles career. No big secret here.
    I just pray that someday there will be a cadre of Anchorage Citizens that will effectively push the far-left fascist operating Anchorage Assembly to the dust bin that it belongs inside of.
    Again, THANK YOU CHIEF KERLE

    • Well said Jim. He makes too much simple sense for the degenerates on the assembly.
      It speaks volumes to know they preferred the previous chief over Chief Kerle

  19. What is a license? To seek permission to do a thing we are competent to do. Must we buy a drivers license and insurance to attend a Livery Tavern?
    .
    Life is the aggregate of animal resistance to death through feelings and motion.
    .
    Infants stir in its mother’s womb. It is his common (not royal) law right given by God to move around. Another common law right is the right for the Church of England to be free. We have freedom of elections. We have the right to our Charter. We have the right to be free of the Pope.
    .
    We will observe forever, all free men and our heirs forever our liberties in The Great Charter of Liberty. These are de(“down”) clared (“written”).
    .
    Government is UNDER consent of the governed to secure those Creator endowed rights in the law of nature.
    .
    What is usurpation? It is common law trespass. Declaration of rights is the laid down law. .
    .
    Public roads are aggregate not a-lien-able. “OUR OWN”. No proprietor to hinder or dispose of this right, or seize and throw away.
    .
    We have lots of law pertaining to property in action, bailee of goods, choses corporeal, (lands, houses) choses incorporeal.
    .
    There is more to it than you think.
    .
    How can YOU give prerogative, other credence, than reason granted to me to someone else? That would be barbarism, fraud.
    .
    Barbarism is not science. How can you disarm protestants when papists are armed.
    .
    Policy officers tend to say “I’ll be armed but not you”.
    .
    Suspending Constitutional Rights Suspends Government and government paychecks.
    .
    “You got some ID on you?”
    .
    We aren’t required to have ID. They are.

    • A license is a way to raise funds for the money laundering business that the politicians are involved with.

  20. It is written. The Criminal Act of 1664 says it can’t altered. If you are a public servant you can’t object to personal jurisdiction. Motion to dismiss.

  22. With these clowns in charge, No-bail is coming soon.

    Is there a contest among the radical progressives to see which West Coast city they can completely destroy first?

  23. The scoff law is Criminal. So because the pervert officials say that you owe a traffic fine to them, they take your vehicle?? Can’t you see the social contract has been broken? Why would you pay these perverts anything after they destroyed everything meaningful in life. Stop paying your taxes to these freak perverts.and never obey anything that they tell you. Let the city crash. The smart and the strong will survive.

  24. During the meeting it is interesting watching the lefties interpreting the stats looking for different ethnic groups who may be targets of the law.
    They are aways trying to pick up votes from minority groups in various ways which is Felix’s sham.
    Thats the only way he can “hook” more votes.
    He blatantly uses the homeless at our expense with the vote process in place through vote harvesting.

  26. Looks like the assembly is a hostile work environment the have an agenda to make Anchorage like Portland or Settle.

  27. The Scofflaw is another way for government to seize property. The law always the government to seize any vehicle being driven by the scofflaw offender. They can and will seize a car even if it is owned by another person or business. This does include rental cars, leased cars, cars loaned to family or friends and any vehicle driven by employee on official company business. This includes commercial vehicles such as trucks.

  28. There must be a national trend of lefties repealing such laws. Hard to believe that Felix came up with this idea and these talking points on his own.

    Meg effectively said what she needed to say to acknowledge what the chief said, and say they will look into it ONLY so she can dismiss it quickly because their minds are already made up that they are brilliant and morally superior to anyone that isn’t willing to pull the rope for the left. No apologies. No acceptance that they need to do better. Nothing. Just moving on.

    .. But it was a very good move by the police chief because they know now it can be brought up again. But what they will do now to avoid this complaint is approach the police, pretend their minds are not made up, pretend they care what the police say, but in reality they believe their minds are much better and morally superior than anyone that doesn’t go along with pumping up the collective left and they will still make policies that have the primary goal of ego stroking virtue signaling. And those very policies make crime go up and discourage accountability for the people suffering because they don’t have it. Then when these problems increase, crime and poverty, the left will blame their opponents, either directly or indirectly, and will never even consider that it might be something they have done because they have established with themselves that they are the only ones that care. History of the world it seems.

  29. I see.

    You are a bigot, apparently, regarding the ‘pink noses’, whatever the hell ‘they’ are.

    Driving is a learned experience no matter the culture nor pigment, as is life. Fathers and Mothers teach their offspring to drive and drive responsibly so as to NOT break the rules of the road and thus receive possible citations for not following the rules of the road properly, so please, Galeutian, get over yourself.

    A ticket is simply a ticket.

    A citation is simply a citation.

    A fine is simply a fine.

    None of the above is related to anything except unto what they are. A penalty unto a lawful regress.

    Whilst you may choose to see a nefarious ‘reason’ for said penalties, what you choose to see simply does not exist.

    A vehicle parked unlawfully is not representative of any culture, race, pigment, sexuality, identity, or anything else.

    It is simply a vehicle parked unlawfully and ticketed thusly.

    It is only within the resultant recipient of said ticket that matters unto you, is it not Galeutian?

    Whilst the issuance of the ticket unto the unlawfully parked vehicle is blind, Galeutian, you can only see the ownership of the vehicle, regardless of the owner not being present at the time of the ticket being written, therefore it must be the vehicle itself that is subject unto a racist creed by the issuing individual.

    Or better yet, you are suggesting, no, insisting that those that are NOT ‘pink noses’ must be more egregious within their scofflaw activities, especially Native Alaskans unto the tune of a 40% overbearance of said proclivities.

    And, of course, your assertion that Native Alaskan families have less ‘familial disposable cash’ than other non-Native Alaskan families to pay for said fines is the epitome of bigotry, suggesting that Native Alaskan families are not only poor, but ignorant within the recompense of the lawful penalties incurred by them as well as any other individual within their stance, no matter their background.

    Each of us is an individual, Galeutian, and beholden unto our own actions and responsibilities regarding said actions.

    I am an individual, Galeutian.

    We all of us are individuals, Galeutian.

    • The states have express US Constitution authority to measurements and weights. Those are elements of commercial driving. Free men have the right to travel the King’s Highway to seek adventure, accompanied by his children and household goods in pursuit of happiness. The state has been found not delegated authority to have any authority over pursuit of happiness on the King’s Highway. This WAS ENABLED BY by the Charter of Jamestown which still in effect in the US today. Everything expansive, imaginative people can imagine to do before embarking it would be nice if stipenders would say what, exactly, enables them to “do” this. Even if it has become a popular custom to seize people’s vehicles. It may not be the servant’s authority. They must have: subject matter authority and personal authority. They cannot usurp American Common Law because one hundred wokesters in a room agreed to break the US Constitution and the rights of the people that day.

  30. I can’t wait for freedom and the US Constitution to be resurrected. Looking forward to Jesus setting matters straight among many people even here in this ghastly populace.

  31. Well my mother never drove. My father died. In your fantasy world parents teach the kids to drive? We did not own a car. It is not my assertion.. It is a fact. You’re just worried you might have to actually do some work for a change to justify your stipend. You don’t like the characteristics of your ilk openly discussed do you. I see you don’t want to give up the bad habit of calling natives ignorant. Yu are an ignorant individual. Dead parents teaching live children to drive, indeed. That’s a thinking individual right there.

  32. At the June 6 Assembly meeting, Rivera introduced an ordinance to fully repeal what he calls the “regressive Scofflaw program. This program serves no true public safety purpose and is an effective tax on poverty.”

    cool felix now do your plastic bag ban. also tax on poverty? GTFO

  33. It makes no sense that the conservative community of Eagle River has to be governed by this democrat body. Democrats are a cancer and destroy their cities. Then they leave the sewers they made and ruin others and won’t admit to the destruction they left. They are the most hypocritical people on Earth. Also another interesting fact, Rivera has had his wages garnished in the past due to owing hundreds in traffic tickets. Humm..no wonder he wants to get rid of scofflaw

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