The Brian Steven Smith case should force Alaska to confront an ugly truth: When law
enforcement and public policy treat some people as less worthy of protection, predators get
more room to operate.
For years, women in the sex trade in Anchorage were left unprotected – and a serial killer took
advantage of that.
Season Two of Octavia Spencer’s docuseries, The Lost Women of Alaska, shows that sex
workers uncovered critical information that helped stop a serial killer. They spoke up and
relayed information, while living under the constant threat of arrest in a system that criminalizes
them for surviving.
That should shame policymakers. Instead of building trust with the very people most likely to
witness violence first, Alaska criminalizes sex workers, discredits them, and treats them as
disposable.
A year before Smith’s arrest, a woman reported to law enforcement that Smith had shown her a
video of a deceased woman being raped. She initially identified the victim as a Black prostitute.
Smith was not investigated; police felt no urgency due to the victim’s stigmatized status.
The State of Alaska wastes prosecutorial resources on prostitution charges and overcharging
people in the name of “rescue” while failing to respond to rape, disappearances, and homicides.
The killer’s interviewer, Amber Batts, was charged with sex trafficking for providing safety and
screening in the industry, while a man reported for murder was left uninvestigated. You don’t
need a policy degree to see the madness in that.
Alaska struggles to name and number its missing and murdered. These issues are connected
by the same broken approach: Target the vulnerable, ignore the warning signs, and call it public
safety.
Law enforcement leaders have fought efforts to restrict officers from having sexual contact with
sex workers and trafficking survivors during investigations, and opposed measures that would
give sex workers and sex trafficking survivors safer access to report violence.
In 2016, Alaskan sex workers won immunity to report violent crimes. In 2017, the Anchorage municipality held hearings to dispute this immunity, and law enforcement argued that the threat of prostitution
arrest needed to remain in place, even when people were trying to report serious crimes like
child pornography.
If docuseries hero Valerie had known she could report without risking arrest, she could have
given the phone directly to the police instead of moving evidence onto an SD card to avoid a
prostitution charge. What additional evidence – and other victims – might have been identified?
That is why this moment is a turning point for Alaska’s public safety.
Community United for Safety and Protection (CUSP) works for change through legislative channels, but for years has been met with a lack of political will and institutional resistance.
CUSP’s recent legal challenge argues that Alaska’s prostitution laws violate constitutional
protections, harm the citizenry, and undermine public safety. This is bigger than the legalities of
sex work.
This moment will determine whether Alaska clings to failed policies or admits that its bad
policies don’t just stigmatize people on paper – they enable serial killers. Policymakers who
want to prevent violence need to stop criminalizing the people who most often navigate it first.
You don’t have to approve of someone’s choices to want them alive.
Maxine Doogan
Amber Batts
Community United for Safety and Protection
https://www.adn.com/opinions/2026/03/24/opinion-how-alaska-sex-workers-helped-stop-a-serial-killer
