Anchorage, Alaska -- Alaska has only about 240 troopers to patrol the largest state in the country; over twice the size of Texas. Their area of responsibility covers more than half a million square miles of rugged terrain -- with a total population which is less than that of San Francisco but spread out of an area that is almost one-fifth the size of all the lower 48 continental states.
While large cities and towns have their own police departments, the state troopers are the most important law enforcement agency in the smaller settlements and the back country.
Troopers also patrol the 1,500-mile-long Alaska-Canadian Highway and other all major roads. Along with back country fur-trading posts, missions, native villages and towns, the state troopers also have posts along the state’s two major rivers: the 1,200 mile Yukon, and the Kusokwim. As recently as the 1960s, troopers sometimes traveled by dog sled to reach outlying areas around the territory. Now, they rely entirely on mechanized transport, but getting around is still difficult during the spring breakup and fall freeze-up when the rivers cannot be navigated or crossed.
“We spend more time trying to get there than we do in investigation,” said Greg Wilkinson, a spokesman for the force.
For example, earlier this month troopers were called in to investigate a homicide in Cowtag, a small settlement on the Yukon. Troopers based in Galena made four attempts to fly in and were repeatedly turned back by bad weather. Eventually they got up river by boat and were joined by two more troopers who flew in from Fairbanks by helicopter.
The homicide proved to be an open-and-shut case -- a man who shot a friend during a drunken argument. The village police officer in Cowtag kept the suspect in custody until troopers arrived.
Wilkinson said that most smaller settlements have a resident officer who’s either a village police officer paid by the local government, a tribal police officer paid by the local tribal council in areas inhabited by Alaskan Aleut natives or a village public safety officer trained and equipped by the state police. These local officers are the first to respond in emergencies, whether medical, fire or a major crime.
“If there is a big event, they secure the scene and hold everything until the troopers arrive,” Wilkinson said.
Much of the Alaskan police work involves search and rescue. In a recent incident which is typical in this region of unpredictable and harsh weather, three men heading for Bethel, on the west coast by boat did not make port when they were expected and were reported missing. Troopers surveyed the Kusokwim River by air, located the boat and determined that the three were in good health and did not need assistance.
Wilkinson said that both tourists and residents get into trouble and need to be helped out: "(Many) tourists don’t understand the magnitude of what they’re getting themselves into and locals who become too complacent.”
In its early days as a U.S. territory, such law enforcement as there was in Alaska was supplied by the Army and Navy, joined during the Gold Rush era by a handful of federal marshals. The troopers’ formal history began in 1941 when the territorial legislature established the Territory of Alaska Highway Patrol. Its officers were deputized as U.S. marshals in 1945 and became peace officers in 1948. In 1953, the legislature established the Alaska Territorial Police with a total strength of 36 officers, which expanded to 78 by 1959 when Alaska became a state.
The force also has about 190 civilian employees, including officers assigned to fish and wildlife protection.