The Haines State Trooper car parked outside of the courthouse. (Emily Files)
The Haines Assembly is making a new request to the Alaska State Troopers, in an attempt to regain a blue shirt officer, after the position was relocated last year. This request comes with disagreement from the assembly.
At a recent meeting, Assembly Member Heather Lende moved to direct the borough manager to write a letter to the Troopers. She said the borough should request recent Trooper Academy graduate Michael Fullerton be posted in Haines.
Fullerton is the husband of the borough clerk.
“I realize there may be a conflict with the clerk,” said Lende. “But we’ve been told by public safety, that the reason that we don’t have a trooper here is we’re lacking personnel.”
Sean Maidy argued that there were other reasons for the 2017 decision to remove Haines’ trooper post.
“It wasn’t because they couldn’t find someone to live here, it’s because they removed the post because they needed it someplace else,” said Maidy.
Haines’ only blue shirt state trooper position was relocated to Bethel last year. The department cited budget cuts and a comparatively low crime rate in the Chilkat Valley.
A wildlife trooper remains in town, and a Juneau trooper makes visits to Klukwan.
Lende said she wants to try to get a Haines resident in the position vacated last year.
“All I would like to say is that I continually support local hire and I support local shopping,” said Lende. “We have a local person who has applied, I think we should do everything we can to encourage local employment when people go out and get skilled in that area.”
But others on the assembly worried about the request presenting a conflict of interest, because of Fullerton’s marriage to the borough clerk.
“Juneau had a taco bell,” said Sean Maidy. “Taco Bell is gone. There’s been a huge campaign for years for them to get Taco Bell back. Now imagine if someone on the assembly had a significant other who just purchased a Taco Bell franchise. And all of a sudden someone says ‘hey there’s a possible Taco Bell owner right here in town, why don’t we just open it up? It screams conflict of interest to me.”
Tom Morphet suggested making the request less specific: requesting a trooper and acknowledging that the borough is aware someone just graduated from the academy, who is from Haines.
“Because the state had no problem asking us hardly at all before removing that position,” said Morphet. “And we are a government. We represent people. And it’s clearly within our parameters to say what we want. And we’re well and justified to say what we want.”
The assembly voted 4-2 to have the manager write a letter to the troopers.
Brenda Josephson and Sean Maidy were opposed.
“And taking it there on a 4-2 vote doesn’t take the strength that it should have,” said Josephson. “We should be unanimous with this as we are unanimous with wanting a trooper. But it’s not appropriate to specify an individual, especially someone so closely affiliated with this dias.”
The assembly’s letter will advise AST that the borough is aware of a recent graduate from the academy that lives in Haines, and the assembly would like him to be posted here.
It would be both unfair to the new trooper and the community to post someone here with little or no experience and who’s closest supervisor is in Juneau. And as to the Assembly writing to the Troopers; that’s an exercise in futility. The Mayor should be contacting the Governor who appoints the Director of Public Safety and works at the at the pleasure of the Governor. The Governor can make it happen…..
The Troopers also assign Troopers by seniority. A recent academy graduate would first have to go to a post with an FTO and then after probation which is a year with the Troopers would he be eligible to bid for an assignment.