New Palmer trooper captain takes helm

PALMER -- The Alaska State Trooper Palmer B Detachment's new commander is Capt. Dennis Casanovas, a 25-year trooper veteran who formerly led Anchorage's state criminal investigation bureau.

Capt. Simon Brown retired last week after 22 years as a trooper. As a member of the National Guard, Brown was called out to plan for Homeland Security issues for the guard. He said he will remain active in Valley sports projects with youth.

Casanovas, who was raised in Alaska and graduated from West Anchorage High School in 1971, joined the troopers in 1977. He had completed an associate's degree in police administration at the University of Alaska, Anchorage and knew he was interested in the troopers as opposed to a local police force because they offer diverse work throughout the state, he said.

"Growing up in Anchorage, I knew the layout of the city, and that might be a reason to stay, but that way there wouldn't have been the opportunity to learn more about the state and other people," he said.

Casanovas started out at Fairbanks, serving the area up to Prudhoe Bay's oil field. Then, from 1980 to 1983, he was stationed at Nome, a post he remembers among his favorite.

"The west coast of the state had some real challenges. Weather was always an issue. There was the question of how quickly could you get somewhere among a myriad of transportation issues," Casanovas said. "The people were really phenomenal, warm and friendly."

The Nome post serves 15 villages and helps Kotzebue with 10 more. Since many of the Native people speak their own languages, Casanovas said conducting interviews was tricky, and he often needed translators. He was impressed by how entire communities banded together to help in a crisis.

On his office wall is a framed print by artist Tok Hwang of an Alaska State Trooper holding an elderly Eskimo woman's hand, signed by six former state governors. "This picture has always been significant to me, depicting the troopers helping people," he said.

In 1984 Casanovas was transferred to the Valley where he had a narcotics assignment. Drug traffic was waning in the mid '80s, he said, but there was a need for more manpower because marijuana grows were gaining a foothold here, he said.

In those days, landlords used to advertise three months free rent with a lease agreement, which was how long it took to grow a crop, Casanovas said. A marijuana grower would start an operation in an apartment or warehouse, reap his crop and move out before he'd paid any rent.

"Sometimes it was hard to even figure out who the person was, because they could sign any name on the lease," Casanovas said. The pattern was that they left behind high utility bills, a trail of destroyed property, rewired electrical units and moldy walls, all of which had to be repaired or replaced by the landlords.

In 1987, Casanovas was promoted to first sergeant deputy commander at the Palmer post before being transferred to Anchorage's criminal investigation bureau in 1988, where he served 12 and a half years.

That unit offers back-up investigators for all the local and federal law enforcements in the state's trooper detachments, analyzing evidence issues and conducting follow-up on investigations. "It allowed for a lot of opportunity to be aware of high profile cases going on throughout the state," he said.

The unit helps with the more serious criminal cases and white color crimes, which Casanovas said he found to be interesting and rewarding work. But since he was head of the bureau, he had few chances to travel around the state.

Casanovas said he sees the Palmer detachment as a busy, important post. "Since it's a training post, troopers are passing through, and few elect to stay. Yet it's a primary training post in the state where they are exposed to all types of calls, ranging from a loud party complaint to a stolen bike to personal violence," he said.

As a leader, Casanovas said his years as a trooper have taught him the importance of keeping an open mind in approaching each situation, he said.

"After you've been in a job for a significant portion of your life, you may think you have heard everything there is to hear or seen everything there is to see," he said. "But more sage individuals will encourage you to keep your objectivity until all the facts are in."