Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson has created a new special unit in the municipal prosecutor’s office that will handle domestic violence cases.
Monica Elkinton was named as the deputy municipal prosecutor in charge of the unit that is made up of five prosecutors, four administrative staff and two Anchorage police officers.
Elkinton said Anchorage prosecutors handle about 10,000 cases a year and roughly half of them are domestic violence related. She said the pandemic led to a large additional backlog of cases.
“We are really looking forward to jury trials opening back up again in January. The Alaska Supreme Court has said we’re going forward,” Elkinton said. “So we are really looking forward to that opening back up and for us to be able to move forward on a bunch of the cases that we’ve had that have been stagnating.”
Elkinton said the unit will focus specifically on crimes like intimate partner violence, child abuse and neglect, as well as animal abuse. She believes the new unit will increase efficiency in handling these cases and do a better job keeping victims informed during the process.
Aside from overseeing the domestic violence misdemeanor cases in the city, Elkinton says she also will serve as a liaison with the public to discuss domestic violence prevention.
“In the past, we haven’t really had one person in our office to make sure that our relationships on the preventative side are happening, and that’s something we have now,” Elkinton said.
One of the organizations Elkinton will do that sort of outreach with is Abused Women’s Aid in Crisis, or AWAIC. The nonprofit works with domestic violence victims and their families to find safe housing.
AWAIC Executive Director Suzy Pearson said the organization hasn’t overlapped much with the prosecutor’s office in the past. She said the new unit is a welcome step in combating domestic violence in the city.
Pearson said she’d also like to see the city support programs to educate people about domestic violence and to help house victims.
“A long-term issue for us is an investment in our emergency shelter because we’re facing funding issues,” Pearson said. “And right now we’re really fortunate that the alcohol tax does have some money set aside for AWAIC in it.”
At least one of the prosecutors in the new DV unit is also funded through the alcohol tax. Both Pearson and Elkinton say they’re hopeful that a renewed focus on domestic violence from the city will foster constructive conversations around prevention.
Victims of threats and domestic violence can contact AWAIC’s 24-hour crisis and support line at 907-272-0100.
Wesley Early covers Anchorage life and city politics for Alaska Public Media. Reach him at wearly@alaskapublic.org and follow him on X at @wesley_early. Read more about Wesley here.
