The Alaska State Troopers, officially the Division of Alaska State Troopers (AST), is the state police agency of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is a division of the Alaska Department of Public Safety (DPS). The Alaska State Troopers is a full-service law enforcement agency which handles both traffic and criminal law enforcement. The Alaska State Troopers is also involved in apprehending fugitives as part of the Alaska Fugitive Task Force, an inter-agency collaborative of Alaska police departments that cooperates with police agencies throughout the United States and less commonly with Interpol in apprehending wanted men and women. Unlike many lower-48 states, Alaska troopers are both state troopers and game/wildlife enforcement officers.
Because Alaska has no counties, therefore no county police or sheriffs, in its constitution, the troopers also handle civil papers and mental health custody orders and serve as police throughout mostly all of rural Alaska. Alaska does have boroughs, which have some similarities but with lesser powers of lower-48 U.S. counties, but only the North Slope Borough police truly functions similarly to a lower-48 county police agency and thus relieves AST of a need to be the primary police agency in this particular region. Alaska troopers are the most geographically extended peace officers aside from federal officers in the USA. They have little, if any local backup; within the entire State of Alaska, only about 1,300 full-time sworn law enforcement officers patrol a state 1/5th the size of the entire lower-48 and other than troopers and state park rangers, the local officers remain in their communities except in extreme emergencies. This includes the only metropolitan police agency in Alaska, the Anchorage Police Department with almost 500 officers. The remaining officers are the over 300 Alaska troopers and smaller municipal agencies which have around 50 in towns like the state capital of Juneau or the second largest town in the state, Fairbanks. The remaining officers serve in small agencies with anywhere from one to ten officers on average.
The DPS is headed by a Commissioner appointed by the Governor. This person is actually a civilian administrator, though historically a career law enforcement officer and administrator. The Commissioner, if a sworn officer upon being appointed as such, may be appointed a "Special Alaska State Trooper" to maintain police powers. The Alaska State Troopers (AST) and Alaska Wildlife Troopers (AWT) are headed by ranking officers with the rank of Colonel.
The Alaska State Troopers trace their heritage back more than a century. 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, the U.S. Customs Service, and finally the United States Marshals Service after a civil government was formed in 1884.
The need for law enforcement became critical in the late 19th century as gold was discovered in Alaska. Gold rush towns had crime rates per capita that dwarfed those of modern U.S. cities. Prostitution, gambling, murder, rape, robbery, arson, kidnapping, aggravated assault, and claim jumping incidents were rampant. Frightened citizens desperately cabled Washington[clarification needed] for help. As a result, scores of deputy U.S. Marshals were deployed to Alaska.[clarification needed] Some cities and towns began to charter police departments in the early 20th century. Deputy marshals continued to be the main force of law in rural Alaska until the advent of the Troopers and many early-era officers of the agency were former deputy U.S. Marshals.
There was no Alaska-wide police force until 1941, when the Territorial Legislature created the Alaska Highway Patrol. Territorial patrolmen only patrolled the main highways of Alaska and did not visit remote areas or regions. They were commissioned to only enforce traffic laws and were not police officers per se. They were eventually deputized as special deputy U.S. Marshals to fill this void in jurisdiction. The legislature refused to make them police officers until the agency was changed to Territorial Police and additional personnel were hired from the ranks of the U.S. Marshals. The new agency became the Alaska Territorial Police in 1953 after a number of titles. Other titles were the Alaska State Police after statehood in 1959, and ultimately the Alaska State Troopers in 1967. In a unique pilot program, AK Troopers even drove ambulances as patrol vehicles in the 1960s, serving as both ambulance and law enforcement service to remote areas.
The Alaska Peace Officer Memorial chronicles the many brave Deputy U.S. Marshals who died in the line of duty in early Alaska.
The Division of Alaska State Troopers personnel are the general police arm of the agency. They are 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. They perform traditional duties most associative with state police in lower-48 states.
The trooper division is divided into five lettered detachments, corresponding to geographic regions of the state, for general policing. The division also contains several bureaus: Alaska Bureau of Investigation (ABI), Alaska State Fire Marshal Office, Alaska Bureau of Alcohol and Drug Enforcement (ABADE), Alaska Bureau of Highway Patrol, and Alaska Bureau of Judicial Services. The detachments are charged with division responsibilities within their geographic areas. The bureaus are 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 Highway Patrol Bureau functions much like highway patrol agencies of the lower-48 states, with emphasis on major and fatal traffic collisions, speed enforcement, DUI enforcement, and preventative traffic patrol and enforcement, especially on areas like the Parks Highway near Denali National Park. These Troopers receive specialized training in DUI enforcement, traffic collision investigation, reconstruction, and speed enforcement.
ABI provides specialized investigative support to smaller agencies requesting help in cases and it provides detective services to all areas not served by local police. ABI investigators are specially selected and trained investigators who also assist in federal cases and receive specialized investigative and technical instruction throughout their careers.
State Fire Marshal personnel are referred to as deputy fire marshals. These deputies have full police powers. They investigate cause and origin of major fires involving significant monetary loss, loss of critical buildings, or any suspicious fire that results in death or serious injury. They also assist local agencies and authorities in fire cause and origin investigations. They also investigate explosions and often work with the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). They receive specialized training from facilities such as the U.S. Fire Academy in Emmitsburg, Maryland.
ABADE personnel are assigned to investigate drug and vice offenses, such as drug manufacturing, smuggling, illegal gambling, prostitution, child sex exploitation and human trafficking. They often work on task forces and in undercover assignments throughout the state. They also work with local agencies and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and US Postal Inspectors in mail smuggling cases. Particular emphasis in this area is applied to rural Alaska, where many communities have exercised local option laws to restrict or ban the sale or even possession of alcohol, leading to a prevalence of "bootleging".
Judicial Services officers are peace officers who perform duties traditionally associated with "bailiffs" in the lower-48 sheriff agencies: court facility security, transportation of prisoners, service of criminal and civil process, and protection of the Judiciary.
The State Scientific Crime Detection Lab: The lab, located in Anchorage is fully equipped to provide support and analysis of DNA, blood drug and alcohol blood and breath test screening, fingerprint examination, foot and tire impression analysis, firearm analysis, tool mark analysis, drug exam, fire and explosion trace evidence analysis, UV exam and technology analytical services. The lab serves all of Alaska with certified, highly trained technicians and forensic examiners. AK DPS crime lab personnel are considered among the most proficient examiners in the world to examine. They provide investigative training to police on these techniques.
DPS Academy: The academy in Sitka, located across from the now-closed Sheldon Jackson College is the main police training academy of the state. With the guidelines of the Alaska Police Standards Council (APSC), the academy trains trooper and DPS officers in basic training, in addition to also training local law enforcement officers. DPS trooper personnel remain at the academy for additional "trooper-specific" training once the basic Alaska Law Enforcement Training (ALET) class graduates. The academy is rigorous and paramilitary. The other public academy in the state, located at the former University Park Elementary School on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus and run by the UAF Community and Technical College, is not affiliated with DPS but is approved for APSC certification. The Municipality of Anchorage also has an internal ALET academy for its own officers and it occasionally offers in-service classes to other agency personnel. The DPS Academy instructors are given the rank and title of "corporal", the only place in the AST where this rank is used. This assignment can be a stepping stone to promotion and only the most elite of troopers are made training corporals, based on leadership, ability to train, fitness, aptitude, shooting ability and general appearance.
The Division of Wildlife Troopers is charged also with statewide law enforcement, the same as the State Trooper Division. This division was created in the mid 1970s upon the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFandG) relinquishing game wardens from its staff and making them consolidated with the AST as full-fledged troopers. The wildlife division is a fully integrated part of AST and while these troopers perform duties most common with that of game wardens and wildlife conservation or marine patrol officers in the lower-48 states, they do however, make arrests for any crimes and routinely act in general law enforcement capacities. AWT Troopers enforce traffic laws and respond to calls for police services as needed. They enforce traffic laws regarding drunken driving, RADAR-speeding enforcement and reckless driving on remote or US Forest Service highways and roads. AWT Troopers are nicknamed "brown shirts" by Alaskans because though their uniforms are almost identical to regular troopers, they also have a slightly different patch from blue shirts on the brown shirt. The division has a rank structure of its own the same as the blue shirts from Trooper to Colonel. The AWT Troopers operate more in boats and aircraft and many troopers are pilots. AWT operates statewide. They have several large seagoing ships with civilian crews and sworn troopers on board for enforcement actions in commercial fishing enforcement and search and rescue. AWT has a core mission of protecting natural resources through hunting and fishing law enforcement. They also aggressively enforce boating safety laws and investigate boating accidents. AWT Troopers enforce federal laws by memorandums of Agreement (MOA) with the US government regarding endangered species, the migratory bird treaty laws and the Lacey Act among others. AWT regularly works with and assists federal law enforcement agency personnel such as U.S. Marine Fisheries Service, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Park Service and the US Fish and Wildlife Service in conservation law enforcement.
Alaska troopers routinely respond to emergencies alone or with only one other trooper as backup. Additional backup can be hours away, or even days away if weather is severe enough. This requires AST troopers to be independent thinking and self-sufficient. Over 50 troopers, including elements of the SWAT teams from Anchorage and Fairbanks regions and the Juneau Police Department SWAT team all deployed to the southeastern community of Hoonah on August 29, 2010 when two local officers of the Hoonah city police were shot and killed in a rifle ambush shortly before midnight on the 28th. Only the chief of police and one officer remained alive and a local trooper who lived in Hoonah assisted alone for approximately 8 hours. Adverse weather prevented AST small planes and boats from deploying to ferry personnel and equipment, so the US Coast Guard cutter Liberty transported the personnel to Hoonah. The suspect was eventually apprehended two days later when he was tear gassed.
The Alaska State Troopers consists of five regional detachments controlling 43 State Trooper Posts.
The Alaska Bureau of Highway Patrol's (ABHP) consists of three troopers on Seward Highway after budget cuts forced reductions. Responsibilities include traffic enforcement, highway safety education, and investigating crashes that cause injuries or deaths on a statewide basis with an emphasis on impaired driving enforcement. Additionally the Highway Patrol responds to enforcement and investigative requests by other agencies.
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