Policing the Arctic: The North Slope of Alaska

Abstract

Geographic size and lack of roads, among other factors, contribute to unique difficulties in providing effective law enforcement and public safety services to residents of the North Slope Borough of Alaska. Despite comprehensive plans laid in the mid-1970s, the North Slope Borough has not been successful in implementing a broad, multicultural community public safety organizational design. The more traditional professional law enforcement agency which has evolved is perceived by some people as having community and employee relations problems. This paper provides a brief history of law enforcement on the North Slope and presents selected data from a 1993 survey of employees of the North Slope Borough Department of Public Safety (NSBDPS). The data support a hypothesis that indigenous personnel with strong roots in a minority community will be more committed to the community police organization than would be employees without such roots.