I’m the U.S. attorney for Alaska. Here’s what we’re doing to improve rural justice.

The Anchorage Daily News and ProPublica’s “Lawless” series on public safety in rural Alaska has sparked considerable discussion about the complex and unique public safety challenges that rural Alaska communities face. That series of articles started shortly before a week-long visit to Alaska by Attorney General William Barr where he visited rural Alaska and met with tribal, state and local leaders to discuss, and witness firsthand, the challenges they face in protecting the public.

As a result of that visit, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Alaska has been talking to partners and participating in a broad range of forums to help us understand the details of the problem, and how we might help. But while the discussions are essential, we are committed to action, and have been working diligently to address the issues raised during the attorney general’s visit. I want to take this opportunity to outline those actions of the Department of Justice, or DOJ, as a whole, and my office specifically.

Grants:

Over the past six months, DOJ provided more than $60 million in grant funding to assist public safety in rural Alaska.

Thirty days after Attorney General Barr’s trip to Alaska, he rolled out a package of support for the state, including two important initial grants. First, $6 million under the Emergency Federal Law Enforcement Assistance program made available to the state of Alaska for funding critical law enforcement needs. The state Department of Public Safety quickly put together a sub-grant solicitation for communities and tribal entities to apply for funding for essential infrastructure projects, such as holding cells.

Second, DOJ’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, or COPS, awarded nearly $5 million through the Tribal Resources Grant Program for the hiring, equipping, and training of village and tribal police officers working in rural Alaska. Twenty groups, mostly from small tribes and villages, received funding for 20 new village and tribal police officers.

In the three months that followed, DOJ awarded an additional $49 million in grants in the state of Alaska, mostly to village and tribal organizations, through the Office of Justice Programs, the Bureau of Justice Assistance, or BJA, the Office on Violence Against Women, and COPS. The grants were awarded through the Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation program. That funding helps tribes develop and strengthen their justice systems’ response to crime, while expanding services to meet their communities’ public safety needs.

Training:

My office, coordinating with BJA, Office of Victims of Crime, COPS, and Office of Tribal Justice, or OTJ, provided training and guidance to potential applicants on how to access tribal set-aside grants for victim services. No organization should have to forgo a necessary grant because they do not have enough training to make an application.

Outreach:

In August and September 2019, the Drug Enforcement Administration, or DEA, visited 35 villages and 20 schools in the Interior and the north coastal Alaska regions, discussing collaborative public safety and prevention measures with community leaders, local law enforcement officers, pharmacies and students. Important partners in this effort included the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Alaska State Troopers and the Tanana Chiefs Conference.

Additionally, the United States Attorney’s Office partnered with the DEA and FBI for community and tribal youth outreach in the areas of personal and internet safety, firearm safety, substance abuse and opiate education.

The U.S. Marshals Service has also been active in Western Alaska, coordinating equipment needs for AST, meeting with the Association of Village Council Presidents, or AVCP, and holding kids’ camps next summer with the Lower Kuskokwim School District.

Enforcement:

Starting on Aug. 18, 2019, in conjunction with the DEA’s outreach operation in rural Alaska, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and Homeland Security Investigations, along with DEA and ATF, conducted drug enforcement operations in hub cities, looking for controlled substances destined to rural Alaska. These operations resulted in the seizure of more than 50,000 illegal pills along with other suspected controlled substances. Additionally, in the past few months, the U.S. Marshals Service has partnered with AST and conducted two operations in 20 villages, resulting in 23 felony arrests accounting for 143 registered sex offenders.

New prosecutors:

In order to address the challenge of prosecuting violent crime, sexual assault, and drug abuse cases in rural Alaska, the U.S. Attorney General provided funding for additional prosecutors for the state Department of Law and three for my office. All three federal prosecutors have been hired, and two are already on board and working.

Missing and Murdered Indigenous People, or MMIP:

I commend the troopers and the FBI in their efforts to analyze the missing persons data for the state of Alaska to determine an accurate listing for our state, including missing Alaska Natives, both women and men. Recently, DOJ assigned a contract MMIP Coordinator to our office to help establish investigation protocols and provide training within the state.

Much additional work needs to be done. Our dialogue with the Alaska Native community is essential for us to understand the needs of rural Alaska and the best ways to deliver public safety. As the only federal agency with a moral imperative in our name, the Justice Department is not just a title to us. It is what we do. Along with our federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement partners, we strive to find better ways to bring justice to rural Alaska.

Bryan Schroder is the U.S. Attorney for the District of Alaska.

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