Recent information regarding VPSO Program not accurate

Recent Information concerning the VPSO program, through news reports and public media comments are not totally accurate information that is being put out to the public. For example, there are recent opinion pieces stating the VPSOs are supervised by the troopers; VPSOs are not supervised by the troopers! If you read the existing regulation manual for the program you will see the supervisors are employees of the non-profit regional corporations. The supervisors, aka VPSO Coordinators, are hired by, and paid by the corporations with grant money provided by the State through the Department of Public Safety’s budget.

In the beginning of the program, Troopers located in the rural areas supervised and worked closely with the VPSO officers; back before the program plummeted to less than half of the positions that were filled at one time. when we had 90 or so positions. The Department has the authority to adopt regulations relative to corporate participation including the role of supervising the program. That authority for some reason supervision was relinquished to the corporations and abdicated by public safety.

The VPSO manual designates corporation employees, with little or no law enforcement qualifications, to supervise this type of work. There is no evidence that the manual was approved or adopted by the Commissioner as required by statue. AS 18.64.670 ©.

I also understand the regional corporation VPSO coordinator for the

Tlingit Haida corporation in southeast Alaska, is advocating the

Program be taken away from the Department of Public Safety and placed within the corporations to manage on their own. Does he not realize private corporations are not government agencies, and have neither the responsibility, the power, or duty to provide public law enforcement. Law enforcement is a function of government not a private police department.

Another point, all the villages involved with the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, ANCSA, were required by the act to become incorporated municipalities. Those villages have the same power as every other municipality in the State. The city government of those communities may, by ordinance, establish their own public safety services including police and fire protection. The biggest reason why they do not, in my opinion, is they do not have a tax base from which to raise revenue to support their public service needs.

The only municipality that does and is operating as those who wrote our constitution envisioned, is the North Slope Borough. That is due to one reason only; they were fortunate enough to be sitting in the middle of the oil patch.

I recommend a repeal of the VPSO program statutes. Establish a law enforcement grant program within the Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development. Then create a law enforcement grant program with grant money provided by the Department of Justice and the BIA, and contributions from the non-profit corporations. The ANSCA communities, which are municipalities of the State, can then pass ordinances creating their own police department. They then can apply for grants to fund hiring and support for their police department and officers. The officers would report to the mayor and city council instead of a non-government, private corporation who now takes an unknown amount of revenue off the top for administrative purposes. How much is unknown., This could go direct to funding the program for public safety within the communities. Without money coming off