Alaska Village Police Training - An Assessment and Recommendations

• NCJ Number: 79686
• Author(s): J E Angell
• Date Published: 1978
• Length: 121 pages
• Contract Number(s): 76-A-044
• Sponsoring Agency: Alaska Criminal Justice Planning Agency; US Dept of Justice
• Corporate Author: University of Alaska
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/
• Publication Type: Program/Project Evaluation
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS.

Annotation

This report examines the operations, problems, and costs of Alaska's police training program for residents of rural Eskimo and Indian villages from the inception of its LEAA funding in 1971 through the spring of 1978.

Abstract

Data sources incuded program records, a survey of over 50 native villages to assess turnover, village police activity reports, and interviews with trainers and other police officers knowledgeable about the program. A discussion of the project's objectives emphasizes that a complete assessment is extremely difficult because goal statements are not explicit, monitoring was inconsistent, and State, Federal, and local funds were intermingled. Although the full impact of the program may never be identified precisely, the report concludes that it stimulated the adoption of Anglo-American criminal justice methods in the Native American communities. The classroom training sessions have evolved from indoctrination classes on the criminal justice system to classes on specific job skills for village police. A followup field training component which focused on serious criminal matters encountered by village police improve relations between State police and the village. However, a survey of 125 former trainees showed that only 20 percent were still employed as village police. An analysis of the program's costs, which are estimated to total well over $750 million, determined that the highest cost items in recent grants were trainee transportation and per diem for students sent to Bethel, Nome, or Sitka for training. Finally, the report suggests alternatives for imporving police training in rural villages, beginning with a program to collect information on skills needed for effective village policing. Other recommendations incude increasing Alaska State police support for village police and developing methods to reduce turnover. Materials used in the training program are appended, along with illustrations of village policing situations, and a list of trainees.