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Police Double Reward in Officer Shooting Cold CaseTo be eligible for the $50,000 reward, people with tips must contact the Homicide Detective Unit either through APD dispatch at 786-8900, or call the assigned detectives, Detective Huelskoetter at 786-8872 or Detective Cordie at 786-8679.Related Content
Anchorage police are doubling the reward for information leading to an arrest and prosecution in the shooting of APD Officer Jason Allen nearly a year and a half ago. Police chief Mark Mew says it's not just that the increase in reward money might offer greater incentive for someone to provide a new lead - he also believes renewed media scrutiny could in itself prompt the telephone call that solves the case. "We'll never call it off," Mew said at a news conference today, declaring that the investigation into the shooting of Allen will not come to an end until the case is solved. With the hope of speeding things up, however, Mew announced that the reward offered for information leading to a prosecution is being doubled, from $25,000 to $50,000. "I'm not saying that this investigation is at a dead end, but we are at a place where we think it would be convenient to help maybe assemble more pieces to the puzzle if we were to increase the reward that's offered," he said. Allen was shot in the early hours of January 9, 2010, as he sat in his squad car in a residential neighborhood in Fairview. Mew would not say whether the car carrying the shooter has been identified. He also did not say if police have determined whether the shooting was a random attack on a police officer or if Allen was specifically targeted. "We have had different answers to that question at different times as we've looked at different leads." Allen, who has not yet returned to duty, attended today's news conference. He is still recovering from injuries to his left arm. "The regeneration is extremely slow and it's not a guarantee that all the nerves will come back. But I'm seeing progress; getting better, very slowly." While Allen's shooter has not been identified, Mew said that a subsequent crackdown on street-level drug activity might have contributed to a sharp drop in thefts and especially robberies this year. "You might say we declared war there for a while. And I think we saw a lot of results from that, and we made a ton of cases." Could it turn out that the shooter already is in custody? “That could be a possibility." But police remain on his trail, wherever he might be found, and they hope the public can help point the way. To be eligible for the $50,000 reward, people with tips must contact the Homicide Detective Unit either through APD dispatch at 786-8900, or call the assigned detectives, Detective Huelskoetter at 786-8872 or Detective Cordie at 786-8679. Mew said more than 100 leads have been followed up on, generating enough paperwork to fill 33 ring binders. With a second shooting of a police officer last year, there has been a vigorous internal debate about having two officers per squad car, as a way of deterring such attacks. According to Mew, the concern with that approach is that the second officer would not be needed half of the time, making for an inefficient deployment of resources.
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RebelRouser said on Wednesday, Jun 22 at 4:10 AM
Chief Mew is incompetent. Replace him and you will have more of a chance of solving this crime
69434472cheeser said on Wednesday, Jun 22 at 2:17 PM
have the police checked there own people,every body thinks it was a gangmemder or some scum bag.over time was pulled just before he was shot, we are talking up to 120000 dollars in overtime for top payed police,then they went to double overtime to try and find the shooter.kind of funny how that worked out
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