An Airport Heights resident, who wants to remain anonymous, says she would move from the neighborhood if she had the choice.
“My heart started racing, I was in shock,” she said, after reviewing her surveillance video on Aug. 2 to find a man shining a flashlight into her car and trying to open the door. It was 3:30 a.m.
“It became real. A violation of privacy,” said the mother of three young children.
She installed the surveillance system in hope of catching the people who break into her car around three times a year, sometimes finding something of value, other times just causing fear.
The Airport Heights community is fed up with the amount of theft in the neighborhood and is calling on the Anchorage Police Department to investigate more cases. But with only three dedicated theft detectives for the whole city, many reports, particularly thefts from vehicles, are not dealt with.
“Those types of cases, once a report is made, if they are misdemeanor-level crimes, those cases aren’t followed up on,” said APD Officer Jeremy Conkling, who works the swing patrol shift in Airport Heights.
“We don’t have a whole lot of officers with a lot of free time — we are running call to call to call most nights,” he said. “If there are officers on fights, on medic assists on more serious types of crimes … it can be a little bit of time before we are able to dispatch an officer to the area [for a theft report].”
According to APD statistics, reports of thefts in the Airport Heights neighborhood for the first six months of 2014 compared to the same period last year are down: 125 to 108.
Some residents believe that’s because victims aren’t reporting the crimes.
“APD has got get their act together. I understand there are shortages,” said Betty Dickenson, whose home was recently burglarized.
Dickenson told her story to Conkling during a special meeting organized by the Airport Heights Community Council on Thursday night. Conkling explained to the crowd of about 25 people the process of how theft cases are dealt with and gave advice on how to reduce the risk of a vehicle break-in.
“They are looking for the easiest targets they can get,” Conkling said.
While Conkling acknowledges that he and fellow officers don’t have the time to investigate all theft reports, he isn’t happy about the situation and understands victims’ frustrations.
“It’s a huge invasion to have somebody in your home or in your vehicle — those are places where you have a certain expectation of privacy,” he said.
Airport Heights resident Carolyn Ramsey expressed her appreciation for Conkling’s work.
“If you guys don’t have the staffing, then you can’t do your job. So that staffing needs to be there, something needs to change because this is not acceptable,” Ramsey said.
Anchorage Assembly member Elvi Gray-Jackson was also at the meeting with Conkling. She acknowledged that more police officers are needed.
“There is another academy that’s going to start in October and that’s not going to help your situation right now, by no means, but it is progress that’s being made,” she said.
Rep. Geran Tarr (D-Anchorage) says the city needs to act.
“My hope is this becomes a major issue for the next mayoral election so we can get some commitment, because clearly public safety is being compromised.”