Anchorage Police to Change Hiring Procedure in Wake of Officer Crimes

Changes to how new officers will be hired will begin with the new police academy in the fall.

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By Andrea Gusty
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Story Created: Jun 15, 2011 at 10:34 AM AKDT

Story Updated: Jun 15, 2011 at 2:36 PM AKDT

On Tuesday, the Alaska Office of Special Prosecutions announced that former Anchorage Police Officer Rafael Mora-Lopez is being charged with one count of unsworn falsification in the first degree for knowingly submitting a false application for a Permanent Fund Dividend.

Mora-Lopez has agreed to repay the state $27,000 he has collected in PFD checks under the false name Rafael Espinoza since 1991.

Mora-Lopez is scheduled to plead guilty to the charge in state court on June 7. He has already pleaded guilty to federal charges for falsifying his identity in order to become an Anchorage police officer.

Mora-Lopez is just the latest former APD officer to be caught breaking the law. Former officer Anthony Rollins was convicted of sexually assaulting multiple women while he was on the job earlier this year.

Both are cases that are weighing heavily on the Anchorage Police Department.

“It has been a rough year, but we have a good organization and we are trying to move forward,” says Anchorage Police Chief Mark Mew.

Moving forward, Mew says the department will take a hard look at its hiring practices to see how Mora-Lopez and former officer Anthony Rollins made it through lie detectors.

“I’m not prepared to say, and I don’t want you to take it that I think our polygraphers had the wrong training,” explains Mew. “But to the extent that we can give them some new training and give them the latest, we want to do that.”

Polygraph training is set to happen the week of June 20. An outside consultant will also be examining Rafael Mora-Lopez's file to see if there was something in it the department may have missed. Department officials will be taking a close look at the files of other officers who left under “unpleasant circumstances.”

“You may look at some other department and say well, they don’t have those problems. Well, maybe they have those problems and you are just not hearing about it, or those problems are tolerated,” says Mew. “So it is a two-edged sword. On one hand, people say they don’t like seeing the fact that these cases exist, and on the other hand, you should be happy you are seeing that they exist because we are dealing with them.”

Changes in how new officers are hired will start with the new police academy in the fall. Mew says the top 50 prospective officers will get the new polygraph tests, and two pairs of eyes will look at each one to make sure nothing is missed.

Mew says they will be treating each prospective police officer like a case that needs to be investigated.

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olddg said on Thursday, Jun 16 at 9:19 PM

Ha Ha Ha the only people that want a job as a cop are crooks to begin with

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butterfly said on Thursday, Jun 16 at 7:48 AM

i wonder how many innocent people are in jail because of untrained polligraph tests read by untrained personnel?

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Eustace Kakolantern said on Wednesday, Jun 15 at 2:01 PM

Its only a matter of time before another rotten apple will be exposed amongst Alaska's law enforcement.It happens all the time;corruption is rampant here,yes indeed.

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mikey372002 said on Wednesday, Jun 15 at 12:33 PM

well what needs to happen, is a polligraph test given each year, Ohh but then the union will step in and say this is against thier rights, well as public servents they need to do that. weed out the shady ones and ones who think they are above the law, This didnt happen over night, its been going on for a very long time, its just lately that they have caught a few, and belive me some up turd cop is going to come on here and defend theactions over the years.

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Phil said on Wednesday, Jun 15 at 11:11 AM

This just cracks me up. The job of the policemen to enforce the law here you have policemen committing the same crimes they are arresting other people for. It's no wonder that Alaska and Anchorage are considered to be second most corrupt state and city and the United States.

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