Update: Anchorage police are doubling the reward for information leading to an arrest and prosecution in the shooting of APD Officer Jason Allen.

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.

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.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – The reward for information about the shooting of an Anchorage police officer has been increased to $25,000.
Investigators hope the money will lead to the arrest and conviction of whoever shot Officer Jason Allen five times early Jan. 9, 2010 as he sat in a patrol car.

Allen may be permanently disabled, Sgt. Derek Hsieh told The Anchorage Daily News.
Police are putting a lot of manpower into the investigation because it seems it was a brazen, unprovoked murder attempt on a uniformed officer.
“It’s a crime that cannot be tolerated,” said the head of the investigation, Lt. Dave Koch. “It’s a crime that has got to be solved.”
The car involved in the shooting had at least two people in it, Koch said. It has been described as a dark-colored sedan.
“Certainly those people are talking about what occurred,” he said. “Some of them may or may not have been willing participants.”
Allen had responded to a family dispute and was finishing paperwork from that when he was shot. Police said they don’t believe the shooting had anything to do with that call.

Tips have been coming in, but police hope the additional reward money – up from an initial $10,000 – may help break the case.
Donations are also being taken in a separate fund for Allen and his family. The 47-year-old has undergone four surgeries and is expected to have at least one more, Hsieh said.

Allen told Hsieh that he wants to come back to the Anchorage Police Department when he recovers.
The public can contribute to the Jason Allen Reward Fund or the Jason Allen Family Support Fund at any Key Bank branch.

This entry was posted on Friday, December 31st, 2010 at 9:33 am and is filed under $50,000+, Alaska, Unsolved Crimes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.