A graduating class of Village Public Safety Officers (VPSOs) in front of the Public Safety Academy in Sitka. The Village Public Safety Officer (VPSO) program provides state funding for predominately Alaska Native villages to train and hire their own public safety officers to assist the Alaska State Troopers in handling public safety and law enforcement problems. VPSOs train for six weeks at the Public Safety Academy in Sitka in fire suppression, law enforcement, search and rescue, water safety, and emergency medical services. Upon return to their villages, each VPSO is assigned an oversight Trooper -- a commissioned Alaska State Trooper -- with whom the VPSO works to resolve public safety problems, including crime investigation and serving of warrants. The VPSO program has proven vital to the delivery of public safety services in numerous rural Alaska communities, most of which are accessible only by boat or airplane.      Some rural villages rely upon locally hired Village Police Officers (VPOs); other villages have both a VPSO and one or more VPOs, who assist the VPSO in his or her duties. The North Slope Borough has its own Department of Public Safety, which hires Public Safety Officers (PSOs) for placement in local villages. Most North Slope PSOs are non-Natives hired from out of state who have already received law enforcement training and certification before hire.   Return to Resource index | Justice Center Home Page | Camai (UAA Home Page) © Copyright 2002-2004, University of Alaska Anchorage Last updated 5 Jan 2004 by ayjust@uaa.alaska.edu