Anchorage police Thanksgiving potluck brings law enforcement family together

Anchorage Police Department Sgt. Shaun Henry walked outside in the bitter Thursday evening cold to check on a turkey that sat frying in a large metal pot. He remembered a previous Thanksgiving, when temperatures fell 15 degrees below zero and a sharp wind forced officers to build a wall of furniture as a makeshift shield from the weather.

At least it wasn't that bad for this year's holiday meal, he said, with temperatures just above 10 degrees.

It was the fourth Thanksgiving spread Henry has helped organize at the Police Department, off Elmore Road. The annual potluck has become tradition, he said, a departure from the years before when officers brought in their own meals just like it was any other work day.

Now, department staff bring in dishes to share that line long tables in the briefing room so that everyone can enjoy a warm meal, even if they're taking it in plastic foam to-go boxes and strapping it in the passenger seat of their patrol vehicle on the way to calls.

"In light of everything that's been going on with law enforcement, especially in Alaska, everybody's kind of down," Henry said, referring to a recent wave of violence against police officers around the country, including in Alaska. "So this is good. It gives them something to do and reminds them that there's a lot of friends and family out there."

Henry said he and another officer, Kelly Huston, decided four years ago to organize a Thanksgiving meal at the station. He bought three turkeys for this year's dinner and arrived at the station in the afternoon, joined by his wife, Turquoise, and their two teenage children. It was his day off, he said, which was good because he had more time to prepare food for the officers, dispatchers, detectives and records clerks working that evening.

"Everybody just tries to take care of each other the best they can," he said.

Huston, a senior patrol officer, sat eating at one of the long tables Thursday with her husband, a K-9 officer. Pies, potatoes, cookies, cakes, fruit and salads covered two tables in front of her. Officers trickled in and out, filling plates and eating between calls.

Huston said she hopes the dinners promote togetherness and family. Sometimes officers' spouses or children will attend. The Hustons' five children were at their grandparents' house Thursday, she said, but they were able to celebrate the day before.

"Someone's got to be here and I'm OK with it. My family is happy," she said. "And we've certainly become our own family here, so even if we can't be with the biological ones, we're with the people who have our backs every single day and get shot for us and we save each other. So sometimes that family is obviously equally as important as our family at home."

Huston said one of the things she was most grateful for Thursday was that officer Arn Salao, who was shot four times earlier this month, was released from the hospital this week and was able to spend Thanksgiving with his own family — the biological one.