Public safety is a leading issue across Alaska, and in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, it has been voted the region’s top issue by delegates attending the Association of Village Council Presidents’ annual convention. After the convention adjourned last Thursday, Alaska’s three gubernatorial campaigns presented their solutions on the topic.
The three campaigns have very different ideas about public safety.
Debra Call is Democratic candidate Mark Begich’s running mate. To improve public safety, Call proposes cross-training urban and rural law enforcement throughout the state. Call envisions rural Village Public Safety Officers and State Troopers shadowing urban police officers to get a better understanding of urban challenges, find new mentors, and learn new technology.
“Because I think what happens in public safety and law enforcement, sometimes I think there’s a silos effect,” Call said. “And I think that certainly happens with the VPSOs. But they also do the reverse, take our urban law enforcement officers and have them some spend time in the villages, and have them understand what our VPSOs and our communities are dealing with.”
John Moller is the campaign co-chair for Republican candidate Mike Dunleavy. Moller traveled to Bethel with Dunleavy’s wife, Rose Dunleavy. Moller served as the Rural Affairs advisor for Republican Governor Sean Parnell, and Moller says that Dunleavy wants to pull together a public safety team with many of the key players that served Parnell.
“We built probably one of the most robust VPSO programs and Trooper programs in the history of the state, and Mike Dunleavy wants to pull the team back together again to redo that,” Moller explained.
Incumbent candidate Governor Bill Walker suggests using a familiar model in a new way. Walker wants to compact with Alaska tribes to work on public safety and education just as the state has compacted with tribes to create health organizations like the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation.
“If we can do, working with the tribes on education and public safety, on what the tribes have done on public health, oh my, we will have the safest Alaska and best education system if I see what’s happening with public health,” Walker said.
Walker has also proposed a pay increase for Village Public Safety Officers to match a recent pay increase to State Troopers. And the incumbent Governor proposes creating an investigation and deployment unit with aircraft and other resources to more quickly reach rural communities. He also wants to increase rural emergency preparedness by expanding the Alaska State Defense Force.
