The Alaska Federation of Natives thanks the Anchorage Daily News and ProPublica for their in-depth series on the public safety crisis in rural Alaska. As the two articles indicate, this crisis has been building for a long time with a variety of causes.
We would like to again thank U.S. Attorney General Barr and the U.S. Department of Justice for recognizing the urgency of the situation by declaring the public safety emergency in rural Alaska in June. AFN looks forward to continuing work with the federal and state governments to mitigate this crisis and take the badly needed steps toward building solid capacity and local control.
Collectively, Alaskans can do better.
— Julie Kitka
AFN President
Anchorage
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