Anchorage Police Department

Anchorage Police Department
Common name	Anchorage Police
Abbreviation	APD
Patch of the Anchorage Police Department
Badge of the Anchorage Police Department
Agency overview
Formed	1920
Employees	516
Legal personality	Governmental: Government agency
Jurisdictional structure
Operations jurisdiction*	City of Anchorage in the state of Alaska, USA
Map of Anchorage Police Department's jurisdiction.
Size	159 square miles (410 km2)
Population	279,671
General nature	Law enforcement Local civilian police
Operational structure
Headquarters	4501 Elmore Road Anchorage, Alaska 99507
Sworn officers	362
Support staff members	154
Agency executive	Christopher Tolley, Chief of Police
Units	List Uniform Patrol Detective/Investigations Homicide Response Team Assault/Robbery Hostage Negotiations K-9 Traffic School Resource S.W.A.T. Bomb Squad Crime Prevention Crisis Intervention Cyber Crimes
Website
Anchorage Police
Footnotes
* Divisional agency: Division of the country, over which the agency has usual operational jurisdiction.

The Anchorage Police Department (APD) is the police department of the Municipality of Anchorage in Alaska. Functioning as a service area of the Municipality, its patrol area includes the core "Anchorage bowl", the Seward Highway corridor from Potter Creek south to McHugh Creek, and the Glenn Highway corridor north of the Anchorage bowl to the municipality's border with the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, including the communities of Eagle River, Chugiak and Eklutna. Through a memorandum of understanding, APD also handles calls on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson which involve civilian suspects or victims. Serving Alaska's largest city, APD is also the only metropolitan agency and the largest municipal police force in Alaska.

Unlike other Alaska police agencies except the Alaska State Troopers, Anchorage PD is large enough that it is able to be the only municipal police agency that operates its own internal police academy, which is accredited by the Alaska Police Standards Council (APSC), the Alaska state law enforcement officer credentialing and regulatory agency. Applicants are also accepted as entry-level officers who have graduated from the other two police academies in the state, the paramilitary AK Trooper Academy in Sitka in SE Alaska, which trains the majority of officers in the state and the Tannana Valley Academy, which is affiliated with University of Alaska-Fairbanks (UAF). Out of state peace officers are also often accepted as lateral entry candidate,s based on their backgrounds and training. APD Basic recruit classes are conducted as needed. when sufficient vacancies arise. In-service and specialized training is also offered to APD officers and to other agency guest officers.

The city of Anchorage had a modest beginning as a tent city on the banks of Ship Creek and was originally called Ship Creek Landing. Law enforcement for the Alaska Territory had been in the hands of the United States Marshals. On November 23, 1920, Anchorage was incorporated as a first class city.