After a meeting with the head of the police union in Anchorage and the chief of police earlier this week, Mayor Suzanne LaFrance asked her allies on the Anchorage Assembly to hold a “special meeting” of the Assembly’s Public Health and Safety Committee. That way, she could get an apology she had promised to police on the record for her prior comments, which were made at a press conference last week and appeared to disparage uniformed officers.
LaFrance went on at length describing how devastated she was upon learning of the loss of the life of a 16-year-old earlier this month, who was shot dead by police after she came at them with a knife. Her comments last week poured all of her sympathy into the family of the victim, and made no recognition of the difficulty police have not knowing if they will see their families again after each shift. She had poured gas on the fire that liberals have created which has made police into the bad guys.
LaFrance admitted on Wednesday that she needs to listen more and hear the concerns of officers.
Evidently her newfound understanding of police came after a meeting in which many members of the uniformed officer staff attended and expressed their dismay at her public comments.
“Multiple things can be true at once,” LaFrance said Wednesday, adding that her grief for the family of the teen, who was going through a homicidal phase, does not undermine support for sworn officers, and vice versa.
She and Police Chief Sean Case, who was also at the Wednesday meeting, laid out the basic plan that she has for the investigation into the shooting. Last week, she had indicated she was taking away the power of the internal affairs officials and getting an outside third party to do an investigation.
While last week she referred to the routine investigation that is done by the State Office of Special Prosecutions, today LaFrance acknowledged that the state investigation will have to come before the third-party investigation, and it all may take weeks or months.
Assembly members Felix Rivera, Daniel Volland, and Meg Zaletel are working on creating a citizens accountability group that will oversee the police. Surprisingly Assemblyman Chris Constant counseled the Assembly to slow down and wait until the facts come in about the shooting and other shootings this year involving officers.
Much of the meeting focused on the need for an expansion of the Mobile Intervention Team, which is a combination of mental health clinicians and paramedics who can respond to behavioral health calls. There is currently not enough staff or funding or staff to support the unit on a 24-hour, 7-day-a-week basis. Part of the funding for the unit comes from the alcohol tax passed by voters.
LaFrance did not issue a written apology or press release regarding her statements on Wednesday. She spoke her words into a meeting that was not advertised to the public and which had no agenda that had been released.
Watch the meeting here:
A secret meeting, huh? Not surprising at all coming from a commie rat.
She did not apologize on her own she had to.
This shows her true agenda and the lack of understanding crime.
I can’t wait for her to answer for the lack of snow removal.
“Multiple things can be true at once,”
What a great summary of the leftist brain! Relativism…
Congratulations anchorage! You’re going viral on YouTube
‘https://youtu.be/n6JAF90kElQ
The public will be watching YOU, Mayor LaFrance. See how you like being under a microscope all the time.
Yup. She should be careful how she coughs or sneezes. It’s all critiqued.
Humpty Dumpty fell off her wall.
All the drag queens and homeless men can’t put that relationship back together again.
Smooth, LaFrance.
A clear leadership failure. No surprise. An unserious and inexperienced person with poor judgment. There will be other problems ahead.
Very well said
Well said
LaFrance and Chief Sean Case need to crawl on their knees in front of the police unions group and beg for their understanding AND MEAN IT
Both of these yokels shot themselves in the foot.
Let us move forward and support the police every time
That an effeminate, semi-retarded Uber driver should somehow be responsible for overseeing police actions is laughable.
“Put your mind in gear before your mouth.” This should apply to ALL Public Officials. Sadly it doesn’t! Our police deserve better! God Bless Our Men and Women in Blue as well as all First Responders.
I am a bit new at politics, but didn’t the public unions endorse the current mayor?
Why is that a common theme with lefties? Do the deed and then apologize for it.
Wow. Maybe some humility? That is hopeful if real. As for ‘citizens accountability group’? Dumb. Allow the police department to manage their own department. Historically they have done a great job and if there are issues to be dealt with they do not need an accountability group to tell them.
“Citizens accountability group” is nothing more than a “Committee of Public Safety,” a hallmark of horror from the French Revolution.
LaFrance, Constant, Zaletel, Rivera, the Obama clone from NY and all the other Communists on the Assembly want anarchy.
If we keep electing them, they’ll get it.
Unfortunately, as long as we have Mail in voting the tyranny will not only continue but, will increasingly get worse.
I find this whole “citizen accountability group” an oxymoron, as the police is already accountable to the citizens/community, via the mayor, her administration and the laws of the land. The mayor sets policy.
What she wants (and the assembly) is a layer of insulation that will make the police the sole “bad guy” and leave them clean for fake outrage anytime it is politically expedient.
Not advertised to the public and with no agenda = the meeting was illegal and doesn’t exist. Might be the worst non-apology I’ve ever heard of.
Press conference for the disparaging, private meeting for the apology. Got it.
Sweeping her comments under the rug after tossing the cops under the bus. Have to wonder what they said to Herat their little secret meeting
You can’t cure stupid and that pertains to the idiots that support the suck it up policies that steal from the producers in order to support the vagrants. The feel good BS being spewn forth by the idiots running on the left exemplify how the country will be hosed by these idiots.
It will happen again, the leftist socialist democrats hate the police and military.
This mayor:
~~Asked her ALLIES on the assembly to hold a special meeting.
~~The meeting was not advertised to the public so was held in secret from the public.
~~She spoke her words into the record of a meeting that had no agenda that had been released.
~~She did not issue a written apology or press release, yet she MADE the disparaging comments
at a press conference!!
This was no apology. This was a set up to try to put out the fire she created with her inconsiderate, unprofessional words that discredited our police officers who put their lives on the line every minute of every day they are on, and often off, duty! She made the statements publicly, yet she ‘apologizes’ secretly??!!
You get what you vote for.
She’s playing to the family who are wailing and crying and making excuses for this girl who was threatening police officers with a deadly weapon, when what she should be doing is supporting those who protect the citizens of Anchorage.
Shame on this family.
Shame on this mayor.
Reminds me of the Obama beer summit after he disparaged the entire Boston PD publicly.
The cop in that situation should have told 0bama to shove it. He insulted the Boston PD publicly, he should issue the apology publicly. But, no one stands up to executives like that.
Open meetings act Anyone ?. I expected it to take 6 months before she fell on her own sword but dang weeks. This left wing Marxist bs has to stop. Keep the heat on her and her gay gang Anchorage. Be fun to watch her cook in her own stew.
Is Mayor Lafrance Paying for this third party investigation group herself, out of her own personal funds? Did she get unanimous consent of property owners that they wanted this, more bureaucracy, and wanted to pay for it? How much extra is this going to cost us? Is she just butting in with her “expert Karen” opinion and whipping out her bank of taxpayer credit card and expecting us to pay for all these things she dreams up? Did she ever pay off all the extra money she spent on her campaign-money she didn’t have? Obviously doesn’t care about the taxpayers who have to pay-just charge it to the taxpayers..
Where is the public, written apology to the police officers? Where is it published in the news media, the same as her prior statements?
Maybe any police who voted for her should rethink having supported and endorsed her, since it’s not reciprocated.
She should not ask for more taxes as the police are not needed in her world.
Did the police support her for election?
We are going to be just like Seattle or Portland with her poor leadership.
Has anyone noticed the dramatic increase in bum camps? Right on the highways. The one between Glenn Highway and Mountain View drive by the Boniface gate rivals apartment buildings in occupancy. The filth is disgusting these are now public health hazards. Time for some accountability. This is a public embarrassment and a looming health hazard.
Last week I stumbled upon the Mountain View Drive/Boniface camp. A very large, very dark, very scary looking place. I suspect the cops and other Muni folks will be reluctant to go in there, should it ever be abated. I am naming it “LaFranceville”. Perhaps Assemblymembers Constant, Rivera and Zalatel could spend some time there.
Pretty disgusting how they are living, even more disgusting that the mayor and assembly enables that. Where is the Municipality health department?
Let’s be honest – no one will want to go in there without hazard pay, a phalanx of police for protection and wearing a hazmat suit. I would tear-gas the place to drive the people out and follow with flame throwers. Burn everything. Follow with chemical and biological testing and more decontamination. The lovely Mayor LaFrance should understand that this is HER problem now.
The “homeless” issue is now growing and taking hold throughout Anchorage. People are leaving Anchorage because of this problem and the Assembly that enables it with tax dollars. (I put “homeless” in quotes because the number of folks that are actually homeless is limited. To a greater extent, the problem arises from drug and alcohol use and the free stuff that is dispensed.)
Lack of due diligence, lack of ordinary business care and prudence, Poor judgment and Poor decision making by Lafrance, who talks through her hat. Her actions, rushing to judgment, and the way she handled it shows she doesn’t know what she is doing, and doesn’t really care either, just cover up, superficial apology, bury it, hope it goes away. And she, (who thinks she knoes everything better), had the nerve to call Bronson incompetent.
Thank your Lafrance voters.
Mayor LaFrance’s recent apology feels insincere and reactionary, a clear attempt to backtrack after realizing the damage caused by her initial comments. Her focus on the tragedy of the teen’s death, while understandable, completely disregarded the immense pressure and danger that our police officers face daily. It’s disheartening to see the mayor and her allies prioritize appeasing critics over standing by the officers who put their lives on the line to keep our community safe. A hastily called meeting and a verbal apology without a press release seem more like damage control than a genuine effort to address the issue. If Mayor LaFrance truly supports our police, her actions need to reflect that—starting with resisting the liberal narrative that vilifies those who protect us.
Damage is done, LaFrance. Too late. You appeased the dems/libs/leftists/communists and the family that should be questioning themselves as to why they did not teach a girl not to rush at cops with a butcher knife. Remember: you’re talking to more than just your echo chamber of marxist assembly members. Apologize all you want, but you went emotional and blamed people who were only protecting themselves while doing their job. It can only go downhill from here – and you haven’t even been sworn in.
There was an episode on a tv show that had a “mobile intervention team” as part of the police force. If I recall correctly, it didn’t work out too well in the end.
Anchorage deserves the politicians they elect.
Good news is this is the first of what we fervently hope are many embarrassing LaFrance failures because a socialist regime can’t be allowed to succeed.
Not bothering to vote has consequences.
Just the start, Anchorage. Buckle up.
This “apology” reeks of insincerity.
Counting the days until we head to the valley. 305.
Anchorage is in for a few lawsuits and tax increases outside the cap.
And more homelessness and lawlessness to come.
We are over it. And judging by the spike in new home listings (520) we are not alone.
The Democrat way. I was in the Seattle area last spring for 6 days. In that time two police officers were killed and one severely injured. It barely made the news and great lengths were taken to suppress the nationality of the perpetrators and their origin. Gov Inslee had a quick little speech about it but generally seemed unconcerned.
Keep f-ing over the police and stand back and wonder why NO ONE wants that shi**y job.
Recruiting efforts are failing due to POLICY decisions and lack of support.
Why would anyone want to expose themselves to the possible abuse for just doing their job as trained.
Talk about toxic leadership…..Queen LaFrance is barely 60 days into her rein and she has already forgotten would she used to get elected!! How soon until she poops on our firefighters and other public servants.
Open Letter to Suzanne LaFrance:
.
“LaFrance went on at length describing how devastated she was upon learning of the loss of the life of a 16-year-old earlier this month”
Suzanne:
You are the Mayor of Anchorage. The Chief Executive for the Municipality. If you are not capable of controlling your emotions, you are not capable of being the CEO. No one, outside of your family, and close friends care about how devastated you are. We care about how well you run the city.
.
And, this outburst demonstrates clearly that your emotions rule you, not logic, not reason, not facts, but emotion. And, the city will not survive when executive level decisions are made based on emotion.
.
Until you can control yourself and act like an adult, I recommend you step aside. Resign from the Mayor’s office, and enjoy the freedom to express your emotions without restraint as you did when you disparaged the Anchorage Police.
Maybe cops need to pack spam instead of guns.
What the hell is a “citizens accountability group” going to do about a person going through a “homicidal phase”? The stupidity knows no bounds.
CBM in case you didn’t know it, leftists are incapable of reasoning period. You should not be shocked at anything this clown show does.
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