The Yukon Kuskokwim Delta has a new Alaska State Troopers unit this week. The unit’s main goal is to investigate violent crimes faster, so reports can make it onto the district attorney’s desk sooner.
The Violent Offenders Unit began Tuesday, Dec. 1, after the team was kick started in mid-September.
Their caseload is already nearing 70.
Teague Widmier is the sergeant leading the new three-person unit. He, along with the two patrol troopers on the team, have a combined experience of more than 40 years on the force.
Widmier has worked as a trooper in Bethel for more than a decade. In his experience, crime in the delta has changed.
“Over time I’ve seen the crimes become more violent,” Widmier said.
He says the severity of the crimes have increased but he’s not sure why.
Although he’s excited to be a part of the unit but acknowledges their caseload is already overwhelming.
“This unit has handled 69 cases, so out of those cases,” he said. “We have worked diligently with the individuals with the families and district attorney’s office.”
This number includes cases the troopers are assisting other agencies with. The unit focuses on investigating crimes of sexual assault and child sex abuse. Their duties include interviewing perpetrators, victims and witnesses, as well as transporting survivors to Bethel for sexual assault evidence exams, or rape kits and other medical needs.
The faster the investigations are completed, the sooner troopers can write their reports and hand them over to the district attorney’s office.
Cpt. Barry Wilson overseas the C detachment, one of the five areas troopers divide the state into. This detachment includes the Bethel troopers. He says some variation of the unit has been in discussion for years.
“So it’s kind of been in this transitional thought process,” Wilson said. “We knew we wanted to do something different. We just weren’t sure what that would look like, and what that will ultimately look like.”
Wilson says the main goal was to cut down on the time it took for cases to be investigated. He says there wasn’t pressure from the district attorney’s office, but that the faster these cases are investigated, the quicker perpetrators can be put behind bars.
Before the unit was created, cases involving violent crimes would be dispersed between the 12-person trooper team.
“This three-man unit cannot take on all of these cases, it’s not designed, but it can take some of the pressure off of the patrol folks so they can do their cases.” Wilson said.
Barry says centralizing the investigations to one unit will relieve other patrol troopers of some of the pressure of handling these cases, and create more efficiency. And in lieu of budget cuts, instead of hiring for a new unit they comprised the team from troopers already in Bethel.
“We average about 250 sexual assault/ sexual abuse of a minor in C detachment, of those 40 percent of those are in Bethel. So that’s a bunch of cases, almost one a day, somewhere in C detachment,” he said.
Wilson says troopers can’t make crime disappear, but they can do their best to make sure offenders are brought to justice.
“Unfortunately, history hasn’t shown that we’ll ever be out of business. What we will try to do is provide a good work product, so if it’s appropriate someone is held accountable for their actions, then they are.”
Sexual assault in Alaska is three times the national average, according to 2012 FBI statistics.
Wilson says nearly a quarter of all sex crime cases that are processed through the Dept. of Public Safety in the state are handled in the hub.
Bethel troopers respond to cases all over the region—with 57 communities, including Bethel, that’s more than 26,000 residents.
Despite the population numbers, Western Alaska only makes up about 5 percent of the entire state.
