New troopers part of a ‘statewide effort’ to recruit more law officers

PALMER — Three new Alaska State Troopers began field training in the AST B Detachment which serves the Mat-Su Valley from the Palmer post last week, and are part of a large movement to recruit more law officers by state government and law enforcement agencies as crime rates continue to rise.

Department of Public Safety Academy Commander Lieutenant Chad Goeden heads the training that all Alaskan law enforcement officers must complete. Goeden says he would put the quality of training at the Sitka Academy up against any program in the country.

Currently, 50 candidates are set to begin Alaska Law Enforcement Training with the next class. It’s is not the largest number ever, as the 16-week training capacity is 56, but is the largest class in the last decade, according to Goeden.

“I don't think this is a response to increased property crime, it’s a result of statewide effort,” Goeden said.

Officers will receive assignments to trooper posts two weeks into the course and train for more than 1,000 hours on the southeast Alaskan island. During the course, trainees are not permitted to leave the island and are only allowed a few days for family visitation in the middle of their Academy training. Following completion of the academy, troopers will receive an additional three weeks of training depending on assignments.

The largest academy class ever came in 2007 with 54 recruits finishing the training. Following the 16-week course, AST and Alaska Wildlife Trooper recruits tack on an additional two weeks of training on the island before they go out to their 13 weeks in Field Training and Evaluation Program or FTEP.

“Once they leave and go to the field they get different training. We put so much effort into recruitment, we can't keep losing troopers faster than we're gaining them,” Goeden said.

The DPSA conducts two trainings each year, with the next one set to begin July 29. Five staff assist Goeden with the training, another number that has dipped due to state budget cuts. ALET has graduated 27 students thus far in 2018, and saw 57 graduate last year. A total of 235 have graduated in the past 5 years, and 215 total in the five years prior to that.

“Our average number of DPS recruits (AST & AWT) has been just above 50 percent of the overall class for the last 10 years, and that is fairly consistent with this upcoming class as well,” said Goeden.

Starting in 2015, Village Public Safety Officers began training at the DPSA in Sitka as well, as they are required to carry firearms. Even airport Police train with Goeden at the DPSA. Some even choose to pay their own way through the Academy, hoping to get hired on with a law enforcement agency following the completion of their training.

The increased efforts to recruit more law enforcement officers and to send them through paramilitary training at DPSA is finally coming to fruition.

“It takes two years minimum to get through. They saw the ad, got through academy and then are out on the streets and just now starting to see results of that,” said Goden.

Contact Frontiersman reporter Tim Rockey at tim.rockey@frontiersman.com.