Trump administration declares emergency
in violence-plagued rural Alaska
Send a link to a friend
[June 29, 2019]
By Yereth Rosen
ANCHORAGE (Reuters) - U.S. Attorney General
William Barr on Friday declared a public-safety emergency in rural
Alaska and pledged $10.5 million in federal funds to combat some of the
nation's worst rates of sexual assault, child abuse and other violent
crimes.
Barr's announcement followed a visit to Alaska last month, where the
country's top law enforcement official was told about extraordinary high
rates of rape and domestic violence and a lack of police officers.
About a third of Alaska Native villages lack local law-enforcement
services, according to a statement by the U.S. Department of Justice
announcing the federal money.
"I witnessed firsthand the complex, unique, and dire law enforcement
challenges the State of Alaska and its remote Alaska Native communities
are facing,” Barr said in the statement.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2019/Jun/29/images/ads/current/graue_sda_2016.png)
Rural Alaska communities, with largely Native populations and mostly
without outside road access, have long been plagued by violent crime.
For various legal and financial reasons, local and state responses to
rural crime have been limited.
Village public safety officers, residents of the small Native
communities scattered over remote parts of Alaska, are managed by the
Alaska State Troopers.
Alaska tribes do not have the legal authority to establish police
forces, a product of the sweeping 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act that restricted tribal powers, Native leaders told Barr in May.
Establishing tribal police would require another act of Congress, the
Native leaders said.
[to top of second column]
|
![](../images/062919pics/news_c7.jpg)
U.S. Attorney General William Barr speaks at the FBI National
Academy Graduation Ceremony in Quantico, Virginia, U.S., June 7,
2019 REUTERS/Tom Brenner
![](../images/ads/current/fitzpatrick_lda_SPONSOR_2017.png)
State-funded rural law enforcement has been hindered by Alaska's
long-running fiscal problems. The state is dependent on oil revenues
that are dwindling and has cut back services over the years.
On Friday, just after Barr declared the public-safety emergency,
Gov. Mike Dunleavy announced deep cuts he was making by veto to the
fiscal 2020 budget passed by the state legislature. Among them was a
$3 million cut Dunleavy made to the village public safety officer
program.
Of the emergency funding announced by Barr, $6 million is to support
the state's village public safety officer program and to help pay
for mobile detention facilities.
Another $4.5 million will be paid by the end of July for 20 officer
positions, equipment and training for Native grantees, the Justice
Department said.
Barr also announced plans for some longer-term responses, including
some funding for child protection.
(Reporting by Yereth Rosen in Anchorage; Editing by Dan Whitcomb and
David Gregorio)
[© 2019 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2019 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2019/Jun/29/images/ads/current/charrons_bch041713.png) |