Residents release recall for Mayor LaFrance

Anchorage residents under an organization effort titled “Recall LaFrance” issued a media release on Sept. 7. The media release stated that Anchorage Mayor Suzanne LaFrance failed to provide the Anchorage Assembly with the 2024, 2025 and 2026 Annual Surveillance Reports by the mandated deadline. 

According to Anchorage Municipal Code 3.102.040, the mayor or appointed designee is required to inform the Anchorage Assembly of the Annual Surveillance Report and publish the material to the municipal’s website by June 1 of each year. 

The media release stated the Anchorage Assembly discussed the three reports in an assembly meeting on Sept. 1. 

The municipal code requires the mayor or appointed designee to provide information on how Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) were used for surveillance by any municipal department or agency during the previous calendar year.

This information includes an explanation of the number of instances and how the UAS was used during surveillance, the objective of the surveillance, changes in policy and facial recognition. 

Additionally, the mayor or designee must provide records of arrests by the Anchorage Police Department that were made with assistance of UAS and how it was used, along with detailed logs of unauthorized receipts, access or use of facial recognition technology. 

The organization alleged that on Sept. 1, the Anchorage Assembly postponed accepting the Annual Surveillance Report because of privacy concerns regarding addresses in areas where drones had been deployed. 

The recall effort also stated that the Anchorage Assembly postponed reports as they had vague justifications for drone usage while missing critical dates and were incomplete. 

The media release then wrote that LaFrance has been adamantly  in support of establishing surveillance technology throughout the municipality. 

According to a 2025 report by Alaska Public Media, APD Chief Sean Case said the department planned surveillance upgrades following the Anchorage Assembly’s approval of a $12 million technology budget. Some of these upgrades included up to 750 police body cameras, traffic cameras and other city cameras.

Case also told Alaska Public Media that he hoped to add hundreds of home and business security cameras to the hub and that residents would agree to share access. 

APD now has many of these upgrades, including the Real Time Crime Center. The technology is a hub that integrates live camera feeds, public safety data, and analytical technologies for APD.

APD has since created Safe Anchorage, a public safety program that allows residents to share their home camera access. The website listed that there are 269 cameras that have been registered and there are 40 integrated cameras as of Sept. 15.

The Recall LaFrance effort submitted the initial signatures for her recall to the municipal clerk on Sept. 3 and the signatures were approved by the Clerk the same day. 

The organization said the municipality has until Oct. 5 to certify or deny the recall.