Alaska State Troopers
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| Alaska State Troopers | |
| Abbreviation | AST |
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| Patch of the Alaska State Troopers. | |
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| Badge of the Alaska State Troopers. | |
| Motto | Loyaty, Intergrity, Courage |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 1967 |
| Preceding agencies |
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| Employees | 644 (as of 2004) [1] |
| Legal personality | Governmental: Government agency |
| Jurisdictional structure | |
| Operations jurisdiction* | State of Alaska, USA |
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| Alaska State Trooper Detachments | |
| Size | 1,717,854 square miles |
| Population | 683,478 (2007 est.)[2] |
| General nature | |
| Operational structure | |
| Headquarters | Anchorage, Alaska |
| Troopers | 380 (as of 2004) [1] |
| Civilians | 264 (as of 2004) [1] |
| Agency executive | Colonel Audie Holloway, Director |
| Parent agency | Alaska Department of Public Safety |
| Bureaus | 2 |
| Facilities | |
| Detachments | 5 |
| Website | |
| dps.state.ak.us/ast | |
| Footnotes | |
| * Divisional agency: Division of the country, over which the agency has usual operational jurisdiction. | |
The Division of Alaska State Troopers (AST) is the state police agency of Alaska. It is a division of the Alaska Department of Public Safety. The Alaska State Troopers are a full service law enforcement agency and handle both traffic and criminal enforcement.
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[edit] History
The Troopers trace their heritage back more than a century, but there was no Alaska-wide police force until 1941, when the Territorial Legislature created the Alaska Highway Patrol. This force went through a series of name changes, becoming the Alaska Territorial Police in 1953, the Alaska State Police after statehood in 1959, and the Alaska State Troopers in 1967.
Before the founding of the Troopers, law enforcement in Alaska was performed by a succession of federal agencies: first the United States Army, then the United States Navy and Revenue Cutter Service, and finally the United States Marshals Service after a civil government was formed in 1884.
[edit] Duties
While most state police organizations are primarily charged with traffic and highway patrol duties, Alaska State Troopers are responsible for enforcing all criminal and traffic laws throughout the state, making them the primary law enforcement agency for many Alaska residents. This is due to Alaska's unique characteristics of limited access and lack of local government in many areas of the state.
The Division of Alaska State Troopers is charged with statewide law enforcement, prevention of crime, pursuit and apprehension of offenders, service of civil and criminal process, prisoner transportation, central communications, and search and rescue.
The Division is divided into five detachments and two bureaus. Detachments A, B, C, D, and E, and Alaska Bureau of Investigation (ABI), and Alaska Bureau of Alcohol and Drug Enforcement (ABADE). Each Detachment is charged with Division responsibilities within a specific geographic area. Each Bureau is responsible for the statewide discharge of their specific duties and overall responsibilities. Both Detachments and Bureaus are responsible for ensuring efforts are made towards meeting the Division's core missions as it relates to their respective enforcement programs, public education, training, fiscal planning and implementation.
The Alaska State Troopers' six core missions in meeting these responsibilities are:
- reduce the impact of drugs and alcohol on communities through statewide drug and alcohol enforcement;
- provide professional, effective and efficient statewide major crime investigations;
- provide prompt professional proactive and reactive rural public safety services;
- protect Alaska's fish and wildlife resources through enforcement programs;
- enhance public safety through highway traffic enforcement and education;
- provide quality statewide training. [3]
[edit] Rank Structure
| Rank | Insignia |
|---|---|
| Colonel |
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| Major |
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| Captain |
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| Lieutenant |
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| Sergeant |
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| Corporal |
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| Trooper |
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[edit] Academy
The Alaska State Trooper Academy is located in Sitka, Alaska and trains Alaska State Troopers as well as other types of law enforcement personnel.
The academy is technically known as the Alaska Department of Public Safety Training Academy (also the DPS Academy). The academy staff trains state troopers, municipal police officers, state park rangers, fire marshals, and Village Public Safety Officers.
The academy offers two Alaska Law Enforcement Training (ALET) courses a year. This 15 week program gives state troopers and municipal officers the basic academy certificate required by the Alaska Police Standards Council.
The academy officially opened its doors in October 1974. Several additions to the training facility have been made since. A new wing with dorm rooms, weight training facility and multipurpose room was added in 2001. A firearms training range was built in cooperation with the City and Borough of Sitka about seven miles from the academy's main facility. This range boasts a classroom among other features and opened officially in 2004.
[edit] Village Public Safety Officer Program
The Alaska State Troopers also manage the Village Public Safety Officer Program program, which provides a police presence in remote villages too small for a trooper post. Officers carry out wildlife protection through the Division of Fish and Wildlife Enforcement, engage in search and rescue of missing persons and perform services usually performed by county sheriff's departments in other states, such as prisoner transport. VPSOs do not carry firearms, although they are trained with non lethal weapons, such as pepper spray and expandable batons.[4]
The Village Public Safety Officer Program began in the late 1970s as a means of providing rural Alaskan communities with needed public safety services at the local level. The program was created to reduce the loss of life due to fires, drowning, lost person, and the lack of immediate emergency medical assistance in rural communities. The Village Public Safety Officer Program was designed to train and employ individuals residing in the village as first responders to public safety emergencies such as search and rescue, fire protection, emergency medical assistance, crime prevention and basic law enforcement. [5]
[edit] Fallen Officers
Since the establishment of the Alaska State Troopers, 11 officers have died in the line of duty. [6][7]
| Officer | Date of Death | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Trooper Dennis Finbar Cronin |
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Gunfire |
| Trooper Larry Robert Carr |
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Aircraft accident |
| Trooper Frank Stuart Rodman |
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Aircraft accident |
| Trooper Roland Edgar (Skip) Chevalier Jr. |
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Gunfire |
| Wildlife Sergeant John David Stimson |
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Exposure |
| Trooper Troy Lynn Duncan |
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Gunfire |
| Sergeant Robert Lee Bittick |
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Aircraft accident |
| Trooper Bruce Alan Heck |
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Assault |
| Wildlife Sergeant David C. Churchill |
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Heart attack |
| Wildlife Trooper James A. Moen |
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Aircraft accident |
| Trooper Hans-Peter Roelle |
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Gunfire |
[edit] Equipment
[edit] Sidearms
[edit] Vehicles
[edit] Aircraft
[edit] Museum
The Alaska State Troopers Museum is a small museum in downtown Anchorage, operated by the Fraternal Order of Alaska State Troopers. The museum commemorates the Alaska State Troopers and features a variety of historical memorabilia, including a restored 1952 Hudson Hornet patrol car.
[edit] See also
- List of law enforcement agencies in Alaska
- Alaska Public Safety Commissioner Dismissal
- State police
- State patrol
- Highway patrol
[edit] References
- ^ a b c USDOJ Statistics
- ^ http://www.census.gov/popest/states/NST-ann-est.html 2007 Population Estimates
- ^ Alaska State Troopers Website
- ^ Alaska State Troopers Website
- ^ Alaska State Troopers Website
- ^ The Officer Down Memorial Page
- ^ The Officer Down Memorial Page
[edit] External links
- Alaska Department of Public Safety
- Fraternal Order of Alaska State Troopers
- Alaska State Troopers Museum at ExploreNorth (with photographs)
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