Initial Report and Recommendations - Alaska Department of Law

Village Council Presidents, Bristol Bay Native Association, Kawerak, Tanana ChiefsConference, and KANA (which also assumed the management of the program previouslymanaged by Maniilaq Manpower, which no longer exists). VPSOs are employees oftheir respective Native corporations; not the State. Much of the program’s financialsupport is from the State, appropriated by the Legislature as a single line item in theAlaska State Troopers (Department of Public Safety) budget. 19 Additional support comesfrom Congressional appropriations to the State, from regional corporations and fromparticipating communities. This support reflects the importance that all parties,particularly the State and regional and local participants, place on the VPSO program forpublic safety.3. Improvements in Rural AlaskaWhile many problems remain in rural Alaska, the Commission wants toemphasize that there have been many major improvements as well demonstrating thateven entrenched, intractable problems can be addressed. These include significantinstallations of water and sewer systems – that are well on their way to eliminating the“honey bucket” in rural Alaska – as well as health clinics, bulk fuel tank farms and ruralenergy. There have been large increases in broadband access to the Internet in ruralAlaska that have enabled the Alaska Federal Health Care Access Network (AFHCAN) toreach almost all of Alaska’s rural villages and substantially improve health care in thosevillages, and a similar expansion in the access that rural Alaska schools have to theInternet is also occurring.The Department of Public Safety increased the number of Troopers assigned torural areas substantially over the past 15 years, and particularly in the last two. The Stateis investing in rural Trooper housing to aid in efforts to attract quality law enforcementpersonnel to serve rural Alaska.In recent years, the State has made significant alcohol seizures and interruptedlong-established bootlegging enterprises. The Department of Public Safety adoptedstrategies to curb the flow of illegal alcohol and drugs into rural communities bystrengthening its resources, developing collaborative efforts with other agencies, andidentifying this challenge as a top priority for the Department. It formed the AlaskaBureau of Alcohol and Drug Enforcement (ABADE) as a statewide entity focusing onlyon alcohol and drug issues, and augmented its rural investigator positions. TheDepartment formed the Major Offender Unit within ABADE to target high-volumebootleggers and drug dealers.The Alaska Legislature has also increased the number of prosecutors andexpanded the available tools for enforcement, and the Department of Law isimplementing a Rural Prosecution Team with financial assistance from the federalgovernment. Notwithstanding these efforts, there remains a desperate need for a greaterlaw enforcement presence in most rural communities. In addition, the Department ofPublic Safety’s resources continue to be over-extended as it absorbs law enforcementresponsibilities for municipalities which are dissolving their police departments because19For a map showing the locations of VPSO positions, VPOs, and CPOs, see Appendix A.Alaska Rural Justice and Law Enforcement Commission - Page 13