Police Turnover in Isolated Communities: The Alaska Experience

Wood, Darryl S. (Jan 2001). “Police Turnover in Isolated Communities: The Alaska Experience.” National Institute of Justice Journal 246: 16-23.

Summary: In the rural areas of Alaska, where public safety services are provided to isolated areas spread across vast distances, officer employment turnover is a problem, particularly in isolated Alaska Native villages. Employment turnover rates as high as 500 percent per year are not unheard of in some Alaska Native village police agencies. A study of the factors associated with attrition in rural Alaska Native villages found that officers are more likely to remain in their positions if they are connected to the Native culture, serve in their home village, are not the sole officer in the village, and are married.