Alaska Public Service Workers Featured on National Geographic Channel

November 10, 2009

Alaska State Troopers (from left) Aileen Witrosky, Honie Culley and Anne Sears. (Photo credit: Alyssa Heers)

The Alaska State Troopers – members of the Public Safety Employees of Alaska (PSEA)/AFSCME Local 803 and considered the “first line of defense on the last frontier” – are featured in a cable TV series on the National Geographic Channel. The documentary premiered on Oct. 14 and airs every Wednesday night for five weeks.

Filmed over 10 months last year, one episode documents a trooper driving more than 100 miles to a remote village to make an arrest and transport the offender via a snowmobile to the nearest jail.

“I’m often out in the middle of nowhere by myself,” says Anne Sears, one of only three women troopers in the unit. “Law enforcement is tough enough but it’s a lot tougher in a state where just about every resident is armed, the weather is treacherous, and wild animals are always nearby.” Sears patrols 15 villages from an off-road post in Nome, a Western Alaskan city of 35,000 residents. Riding in a boat or a snowmobile or flying a small plane, she responds to all calls – from drunkenness to domestic assaults – often without any backup.

“The series give you a glimpse of the reality of what we do serving the people of Alaska,” says Sears. “Because of the unusual challenges we face every day, we are unlike any law enforcement agency anywhere else in the U.S.”

She hastens to add, “This is the best job I ever had because I get to travel off the beaten path to remote places in this vast state, often expecting the unexpected and meeting diverse people who need our help.”