Smart Policing Initiative-Risk & Response: Pilot Testing a Coordinated Community Response to Domestic Violence in Anchorage

The most recent Alaska Victimization Survey (2015) found that an estimated 39% of women residing in the Municipality of Anchorage had experienced intimate partner violence in their lifetimes (University of Alaska Justice Center, n.d.). Past year estimates from the same survey found that 5.3% of Municipality of Anchorage women — nearly 6,000 women — had experienced physical violence in the past year alone (Rosay, 2016).  Preliminary results from an examination of 20 years of data from the Anchorage Police Department (APD) by our research partner found that individuals who repeatedly experience and commit domestic violence substantially contributed to overall domestic violence, particularly domestic violence assaults, but there is currently no organized framework in place to estimate re-offense risk and coordinate responses across the myriad of stakeholders with a role in domestic violence prevention and mitigation.

The proposed project, Risk and Response: Pilot Testing a Coordinated Community Response to Domestic Violence in Anchorage, will bring together law enforcement, victim service providers, a research partner, and other stakeholders to expand evidence-based policy and practice domestic violence. The Anchorage Police Department will hire a full-time project coordinator to act as a liaison between partnering agencies and will hold stakeholder meetings, facilitate collaboration and data collection. Through a three-phase project in partnership with our research partner, we will identify stakeholders, develop a risk assessment method for domestic violence incidents, implement a coordinated response, and evaluate outcomes from the effort. The proposed project’s objective is to reduce the harm from domestic violence incidents, improve the systemic response to individuals at high-risk of experiencing or committing domestic violence, and improve coordination among key domestic violence partners.

The proposed project will take place in Anchorage, Alaska, the largest metropolitan area in the State of Alaska, with a local jurisdictional area is comprised of 288,970 citizens with a service area of 160 square miles. The Municipality of Anchorage, Anchorage Police Department (APD) is the primary law enforcement agency with responsibility for the Municipality of Anchorage (MOA).  In 2018, Anchorage became a Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN) Target Enforcement area.  Additionally, Anchorage became a National Public Safety Partnership (PSP) site in 2019. Both the PSN and PSP partnerships help to combat violent crime in site areas with violent crime rates about the national average.  The Alaska Justice Information Center (AJiC) is an organized research unit of the University of Alaska Anchorage Justice Center and will serve as the research partner.