Lawsuit alleging discrimination filed against APD & the Municipality of Anchorage

A lawsuit filed against the Anchorage Police Department and the Municipality of Anchorage today alleges the discrimination of Anchorage police officers on the basis of color, race, and ethnicity. The complaint states that APD Officer Jared Tuia joined the Anchorage police force in 1999 and has served for 20 years since November 2019.

In his complaint, Officer Tulia claims that he advanced to the rank of Lieutenant and has been recognized as performing excellent service in the various assignments he has been given. He was denied a promotion to Captain on four separate occasions in 2015, 2017, 2018, and 2020.

The lawsuit alleges that when Tuia asked for a debriefing about why he was not promoted in 2015, he was told he could accomplish great things "somewhere other than the APD" and ultimately transferred to the property crimes division after asking for a debriefing in 2017.

According to the lawsuit, the U.S. Office of Equal Employment Opportunity has previously criticized the promotion practices of the Anchorage Police Department as facilitating discriminatory practices. The complaint also claims that the Chief of Police knew who he was going to promote before applications for promotion were even solicited.

You can read the entire complaint, which raises serious allegations of impropriety by the Anchorage Police Department and Chief Doll at the link.