Palmer Police Department turns 50

Aug. 5, 2007

By Hannah Guillaume/Frontiersman

PALMER - August marks 50 years for Palmer's police force.

To commemorate the milestone anniversary, this week Palmer Police are getting new patches and badges featuring the Colony Barn, Palmer Water Tower and Pioneer Peak. Later this month, a 20-page booklet on the department's history is being released at the Palmer Library and local museums.

The booklet, &#822050th Anniversary Palmer Police Department,” was compiled and written by Palmer Police Det. Kelly J. Turney using archived news reports and interviews with past and present members and families of the department.

The story starts in August 1957, when Palmer could only afford one policeman, Chief Bernard &#8220Bernie” Bouwens, Turney said.

&#8220It was so small [a] town that the city couldn't purchase any firearms or patrol vehicles,” he said.

The one-man department's first arrest was of a &#8220male arrested after several complaints of his behavior while under the influence of alcohol,” according to the booklet. The man was jailed in a cell secured with logging chains beneath the front sidewalk of Al Hagen's Valley Theater, which is now home to Goldminer's Hotel.

There were no radios or telephones for the department in the beginning, Turney said.

A signal light was erected above the chimney of the Valley Hotel to notify chief Bernie of when he was needed, according to the booklet. Today it continues to stand above the hotel's chimney.

The booklet notes the controversial 1962 firing of Bernie by the Palmer City Council, detailing his disagreements with former Mayor Al Hagen. No reason was given to the public for firing Bernie, according to the booklet. No police existed in Palmer from 1964-1970, Turney said. The city found it could save about $7,000 in 1964 alone with contracts for Alaska State Troopers making patrols.

The department returned in July 1970, costing $2,000 more than the proposed trooper contract, according to the booklet. The three-man department made three arrests involving DUI, disorderly conduct and drunk in public its first week back.

The only unsolved homicide in the department's history happened in 1981. Turney describes the cold case in the booklet as one &#8220that still is embedded into the memory of the community. … Yvonne Demaree was brutally stabbed and murdered at the Palmer Moose Lodge.”

Turney put together more than 10 other stories with pictures for the booklet that detail Palmer's law enforcement history.