Posted on 02/18/2008 1:31:38 AM PST by AlaskaErik
ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- The village of Aniak says living with Alaska State Troopers in its community is like living with Big Brother.
Earlier this month, the Aniak Traditional Council sent a letter to Alaska State Troopers asking that troopers be permanently removed from the Aniak post. The council cites unfair treatment and disregard of tribe members' civil rights as reasons and says it feels the scrutiny is racially motivated.
The council complains troopers cite and fine young children for hunting or trapping ptarmigan and rabbits without a license. The say law enforcement officials also place roadblocks and conduct car searches in search of drunk drivers and bootlegged liquor without cause.
Chief Wayne Morgan says it's so bad people are afraid to live their lives freely.
"We respect the law and follow the law, but to be looked for and asked and checked that we are ensuring that we are not breaking the law and questioned all of the time, to me that is harassment," Morgan said.
Alaska State Troopers say they take the allegations seriously and will look into the council's claims.
But in written statement troopers explain they won't be leaving Aniak.
"...we do not have the option or authority to decide not to serve the people of Aniak."
Troopers say they cannot withdraw from a service area unless another state authorized public safety entity is in place.
Contact Jill Burke at jburke@ktuu.com
Is anyone here old enough to remember “The Policeman Is Your Friend”??
Yeah, I remember Officer Taserrrrrrrrrrrrr,,,,,,*ZAP* !!!
The state put them there, now the troppers must justify the expense.
Maybe the Aniaks should move. /s
Is there some resource that the state of Alaske knows about that the Aniaks don't? I mean, other that the potential fine money temporarily residing in the Aniaks pockets, wallets and purses that obviously belongs to the state who will take it, by force of law if necessary.
I know my opinion on law enforcement officers is sensible, because I’ve been flamed by both the “cops can do no wrong” crowd and the “all cops are evil” crowd.
Sounds like the troopers are being heavy-handed here, however, the villagers’ playing of the race card reduces their credibility. If ghetto blacks or Hispanics complained that the cops in their ‘hood were racist oppressors, I bet no one here would be supporting the complainers.
If the villagers didn’t play the race card, I’d be strongly on their side. There’s no evidence of any racism and most likely the troopers would still be throwing their weight around if the villagers were white. Plenty of whiteys have suffered injustice at the hands of corrupt cops. It’s not just a minority issue.
If this village is a reservation area...then they can kick the cops out. If this is not a reservation area...then the state can keep the cops there.
What is strange about this case...based on limited info on the internet....is a very sorted amount of facts.
First...our buddy...Senator Stevens (the corrupted Republican)...fixed up a bill in 2003 to provide the tribal groups money for court and police forces in Alaska...but then he packaged the entire deal into one situation...the state police and state court system. His simple explanation...too many tribal areas and giving money to each one just wouldn’t work (that was precisely he said in 2003).
The tribe in Aniak tried to sue the federal government but it appears that nothing was accomplished (2005)...to get their own police force and court established.
The town itself of Aniak...has around 550 in population. Interestingly enough...the town has seven registered sex offenders...a fair percentage for a male population of 298.
Nowhere on the internet...do you find the number of state police in this area...which is kinda curious. My best guess would be a total of three individuals. Based on the reports in the local weekly paper there...the majority of arrests all have to do with alcohol (property damage while drunk or fighting while drunk or spousal abuse while drunk). So in the middle of the day...when most guys aren’t drunk...the cop is probably looking for some crime to busy himself, and thus arrests kids for hunting without a license or such.
I would suggest that the tribe just starts video-taping these episodes and putting them on Youtube. The state police chief will get tired of jokes and move the three present guys out....bringing in fresh folks...who might be a bit more relaxed in their attitudes.
You know what they say about finding a man in Alaska...the odds are good but the goods are odd.
I live in the Mat-Su part of Alaska where we have had some pretty bad drug issues the last couple of years but from day one when I moved to Alaska I have noticed one thing above others, stay well clear of a drinking Alaskan native, native I use for a generic term of what others outside would call Eskimos but in reality its quite a few different tribes like the Athabaskan, Tlingit, Aleutians etc.
Yeah so much so he would follow me home “officer friendly” from school in the 7th grade and I will leave the rest to your imagination.
I tried running away from home and he would be assigned to my case (then turned Detective) to keep me under control.
I got word last year (now alost forty years later) that he died so now God can deal with the justice.
The only reservation in Alaska is on Annette Island. But not every village has a Trooper post. This one could be easily relocated.
Once again, the benefit of the doubt on Free Republic goes against the cops. You have one post here claiming the cops are bad and a number of responses tending to agree. Let’s hope the Alaskans in this village can sleep better knowing the nearest law enforcement may be 200 miles away.
“”...we do not have the option or authority to decide not to serve the people of Aniak.””
THAT, is a truly Orwellian statement. We don’t have the authority not to be authoritarian.
On behalf of the rest of us (FReepers) here, we are really sorry about that traffic ticket.
A better statistic might be —
The number of Alaska Natives and American Indians incarcerated in secure facilities at the beginning of the year (2003) was 1,420 or 37.2% of the total prison population, whereas Natives make up just under 17% of the general State population.
The number of African Americans incarcerated was 446, 11.7% of the prison population whereas Blacks make up less than 4% of the total State-wide population.
FWIW, there are more ethnic Koreans in Alaska than Natives....and booze/meth *is* the problem.
There are a lot of people in Alaska who are not afraid to take personal responsibility for their own safety. In most instances police are simply report writers. The initial situation is long over with by the time the police get there. Out in the villages every household has multiple firearms, with the exception of the liberal teachers who are recruited from America.
Well said. Imagine the audible gasps of the boot lickers when you dared to say, "I'll take care of my own safety, thank you very much, with the help of the 2nd amendment. As the saying goes, When seconds count, the police are only minutes away.
You have 2 cultures, the white Amer culture and native culture. If anyone thinks everybody follows the letter of the law in Alaska, they are quite ignorant; and we don't have enough prisons, police, or resources to lock up all the Indians; and they know that. So they pretty much ignore the laws and do things they native way as they always have. Govt can't do anything about it either, heck I was surprised to see the feds begging the indians not to shoot ducks during the spring migration, ha. Indians shoot 30 a day and give them out in village as they always have.
Us white people could learn a little from them Indians. You'd be surprised how responsive govt becomes with a little disregard of what they say. It only works with voluntary compliance you know.
Bottomline is the state boys think they are going to administer the law like they do in white America, ain't in the cards. They want to lock up every boozed up Indian in the village; village doesn't want all male village members in prison. If state pushes too hard, they'll run the police out and then govt won't have any input. Best program is to get a good VPSO who has lived in village for 20 years and understands how it all works; he'll look the otherway most the time and will survive.
Ya know, once you get to know the Indians, don't look down on them like most white people do; you find out they ain't all that bad. Decent, nonjudgemental, sharing, easy going people, no joke; I like being around them.
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