Borough wants more cops

April 8, 2005

Editor's note: This is the first part of a periodic series on law enforcement issues in the Valley.

KATE GOLDEN/Frontiersman reporter

MAT-SU - Violent crimes are up. U.S. Department of Justice funding for police is down. Valley police and troopers say they are severely understaffed. Right now, the Mat-Su Borough fixes roads, maintains parks and responds to emergencies. Should it add police protection to its services?

A recent report from the Assembly-created Mayor's Blue Ribbon Task Force on Police Powers answered with a firm yes.

Between 1999 and 2003, the number of calls for assault, domestic violence, robbery, kidnapping and vehicle theft doubled, while the number of burglary and larceny calls increased by more than 50 percent, the report said.

Current law enforcement in the Valley totals 81 full-time officers: 50 Alaska State Troopers, 12 Palmer police officers and 19 Wasilla police officers.

The average staffing ratio nationwide is 2.5 officers per 1,000 people, according to International Chiefs of Police statistics. The Valley's ratio is .86 per 1000.

"Approximately twice the number of patrol officers would be needed to reach the average staffing ratio for the current Borough," the report said.

And that's only for the present number of people - 77,000 in 2004, according to the Institute of Research and Economic Development. That number will increase to 92,700 by 2015, and to 154,800 by 2025, the institute estimated.

The average cost of a municipal police officer in Alaska is $100,000. An Alaska State Trooper costs $187,000 the first year and $137,000 thereafter.

The report notes that the numbers do not consider the "special demographic and geographic attributes of the borough."

Wasilla Police Chief Don Savage, too, has said raw numbers are only a starting point for analysis: They don't show the big picture of the character of crime in the Valley.

"We are seeing more extremes in violent crime with a total disregard for human rights or even the perpetrator's own self-protection," Savage said in the report. "There is a population that is extremely dangerous."

As of June 2004, the troopers were behind schedule on about 900 cases.

The borough's future plan:

€ Adopt police powers

by contracting with state troopers for additional police services.

Doing so will require voter and Assembly approval, as well as an analysis of how crime is distributed in the borough. It would take the combined efforts of troopers, community councils, municipalities and tribal governments.

And it would take funding: The potential sources are sales tax revenue, grant funding, property taxes and the borough general fund. A majority of survey respondents said they would be willing to pay for more nightly drive-by patrols.

€ Support ancillary measures. Wellness or "therapeutic" courts target misdemeanor offenders with mental illness and substance-abuse problems, to reduce recidivism on misdemeanors. A federal program, COPS in Schools, places police officers in schools to act

as mentors, teachers and

mediators.

Such programs would represent a combined effort of the borough, state troopers, the courts and the school systems. They may rely on grant funding or a borough partnership with the court system.

€ Establish a centralized Neighborhood Watch Office. The federal program, funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Office of Domestic Preparedness, is intended to "strengthen the spirit of volunteerism" by coordinating law enforcement, emergency response and community members to deal more effectively with shared threats from terrorism to

earthquakes.

€ Collaborate with community groups to develop and fund programs that emphasize prevention, education, intervention and treatment.

Peter Ashman, former Palmer District Court judge, said jail time doesn't sufficiently deter criminals.

The solution, he said: "Create an atmosphere for change."