Anchorage police eye former LIO building for expansion

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – The Anchorage Police Department may expand its headquarters to a building once targeted for legislative offices.

City officials announced Tuesday that the Anchorage Community Development Authority had accepted the department’s letter of intent to lease the former Legislative Information Office on West Fourth Avenue.

The police headquarters since 1986 has been in east Anchorage several miles from the downtown core.

Police Chief Justin Doll says the department needs more space for staff, property and evidence. He says expanding also will extend the department presence downtown.

The Alaska Legislature’s Legislative Council negotiated a lease for the downtown building and its renovation for legislators’ offices. An Anchorage Superior Court judge ruled the lease illegal.

Doll says command, detectives, crime suppression divisions would move downtown.

Negotiations for the building could conclude by August.

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