Longtime trooper ready for new role as director of Alaska Wildlife Troopers

MAT-SU — Colonel Doug Massie has learned a variety of valuable lessons in his 22 years working with the Alaska State Troopers. Massie took after his father and joined AST after going through the Department of Public Safety Academy in Sitka, and worked in a number of locations throughout Alaska. On Jan. 2, Massie was named the Director of the Division of Alaska Wildlife Troopers.

Massie spent 22 years working for AST because he liked the job he got to do every day. Massie said that sergeants are the most important position in law enforcement because of their ability to teach their unit while on the job. Massie worked as a Trooper from 1997 until 2009 when he was promoted to sergeant.

“The most important position is a Sergeant. They’re right there in the field with their troopers. They’re constantly mentoring them and now that I’m in this position, I look back and I see exactly why everybody’s been saying that for the last 22 years,” Massie said.

Massie was born in Anchorage before moving to the Valley and got a job working on the North Slope right out of high school. He used money he made on the slope to put himself through the DPS Academy, but was still too young to serve. After he turned 21, he got his first job with the Kotzebue Police Department.

“That’s kind of what started off my career in law enforcement, just seeing what the folks that worked with my father did and that was a good fit for me. I was attracted to that,” Massie said.

Massie was then hired as a fish and wildlife protection trooper in 1997, and he was hooked.

“All I wanted to do was be in the field and catch bad guys and go on boats, be on snowmobiles, ATVs, and be in the field,” Massie said. “The reason I stayed a trooper for so long is because it was so fun. I had a good time. I enjoyed being in the field, so as for a longterm plan in the beginning, no I didn’t have one. I just wanted to be out there.”

Now as head of AWT, Massie is charged with enforcing laws that protect fish and game resources. Both ‘blue shirts’ (AST) and ‘brown shirts’ (AWT) receive the same training at the DPS academy and have the same priorities to defend public safety. Despite a rise in crime and funding difficulties that have plagued state law enforcement, Massie is excited to begin work directing AWT. AWT’ mission is to prohibit illegal guiding and transporter activities, reduce unlawful harvest, prevent illegal waste of harvest, enforce boating safety and safeguard wildlife habitat.

“There’s some understaffing and some issues that are facing our blue shirts as well as our brown shirts, but our primary focus behind public safety number one is enforcing the fish and game laws in the state,” Massie said. “ You might see us on the rivers checking licenses. An example of one of our areas of concern is the Susitna drainage. It’s essentially been closed for two years now so that’s one of our high priorities out there in the Valley is that we’re out there making sure we’re protecting those Chinook salmon.”

Massie said that many of the natural stocks that feed into the Susitna drainage have been declining, specifically on the West side of the Cook Inlet. Massie is taking his 22 years of experience in Law Enforcement to the Wildlife Troopers to begin work on defending resources for various user groups. AWT enforces fish and game laws for commercial operations, personal use sportsmen, and subsistence hunters and fishers. Massie himself uses Alaska’s natural bounty to feed his family, and recognizes the importance of maintaining the balance in Alaska’s wildlife.

“A lot of the residents depend on fish and game to get them through the winter, including myself. So if we weren’t here you could imagine what would happen. We’d have overfishing. We’d have overhunting. We’re kind of the referees for several different user groups,” Massie said.

In learning from his father, his sergeants, and other troopers over his 22-year career, Massie has used not only the advice of his superiors but a moral compass to guide his enforcement of the law. Massie was part of a 38 state organization of law enforcement officer that allowed him to compare AST practices with those being employed throughout the country. Massie said that the challenges faced by AWT and AST are among the most unique challenges faced by law enforcement anywhere.

“It’s the unique challenges we have, whether it be the terrain, the weather, the culture. You know we have challenges like no other department in the world. We oftentimes have to get to our areas by means other than just driving your vehicle there. We have airplanes, boats, so what makes us what sets us apart from other organizations is the unique challenges we have. We have to be creative all the time. We’ve got some of the roughest terrain in the world and the ability to adapt and overcome is constant. Every day I go to work when I was in the field I had a different set of challenges,” Massie said.

Massie has been taking daily meetings with DPS Commissioner Amanda Price to develop a strategy for AWT in the future. As far as Massie’s immediate future, he plans to go moose hunting with his son this weekend.

“I’d love to get him his first moose,” Massie said.

Massie knows he has a lot of work ahead of him, and resources for more trooper funding that was promised by Gov. Mike Dunleavy may soon be on the way.

“I’m just looking forward to moving ahead and getting these stocks of concern and these numbers back on track,” Massie said.