Alaska can be known to be deficient police force services for its isolated communities, and in particular Alaska Native villages located off the highway system. This creates additional stress on the services of these communities to deal with violence that occurs However, a new program will help.
In Emmonak the village of around 800 people near the end of the Yukon River, the women’s shelter is now training those who are called “victim Resource advocates” in the area’s smaller communities to connect people who have been victims of violence with shelter and support.
“The villages do not have police officers in the village, and we aren’t sure who to contact, however having advocates in the community allows us to provide assistance to people in need who are victims of sexual assault or domestic violence,” said Joann Horn who is who is the director-executive of Emmonak Women’s Shelter.
“In the past, it was difficult. We sometimes encounter difficulties in getting contact with law enforcement officials,” Horn said. “In the villages, it’s difficult in areas that have no law enforcement. It takes a few days to receive an answer.”
She explained that in the days prior to the shelter’s training of resource advocates, it was not readily available for women who had experienced sexual assault or domestic violence and had visit the tribal office and make a call to for help from the refuge in Emmonak and then stay at their tribal offices until the plane would be able to take them away, Horn said.
Brent Hatch, now a police sergeant with the Alaska State Troopers in Fairbanks has spent a long time responding to domestic violence incidents in remote regions of Alaska. He noted that the Alaska State Troopers have been drastically under-staffed, yet they have to be able to respond to crimes that span huge distances.
“I believe we’re down to more than 50 troopers. Their spots are all empty. The troopers are there have to take on the entire work our troopers missing aren’t in a position to perform,” he said. “So it’s not just that we’re at a very short supply of personnel and it places a heavy load on many people.”
Hatch stated that he was required his hands full of “triage” calls while working in the bush of Alaska and added that troopers who are in charge are accountable for large regions that they could slow the response time significantly.
“I’ve encountered instances where I’ve needed to travel for more than eight hours in a snowmachine to reach the location where I could investigate domestic violence incidents since a flight wasn’t an option due to the weather,” he said. “I’ve encountered several occasions when I’ve spent up to 12 hours on the boat that was going upriver to handle situations like this.”
Hatch has been working with troopers since 2008, and has said that staffing was always a problem however, recently it’s been more difficult.
“The most recent few years in particular the last few years, we’ve lost more people than we can attract. In addition, the people we are able to have to find are having a very challenging time retaining the people we recruit,” he said, noting that he attributes some of the problem to a cultural change in the way police are perceived by the general public.
Village resource advocates
The Emmonak shelter provides advocate for victims, who announce that they are employed by the shelter and include their contact details as well as the services they offer within their local communities.
Horn claimed that it has assisted bring more people from rural villages to shelter within Emmonak Women’s Shelter. Emmonak women’s shelter. “In the past, we had an individual who could be contacted. Therefore, having an advocate for resources in the villages we offer services to is a big help,” she said.
Tammi Long, an employee of the Emmonak Women’s Shelter, said that the program is a first for Emmonak. It was launched in February last year.
“That was really helpful to us get these children and women into safe shelters in the event that they’re unable to get to shelters,” she said. “Before we were able to have these village resource advocates and we’d always be in a bind when it was at night and a woman or victim was in the open with no place to move.”
The shelter has resources from village supporters located in Alakanuk, Pitkas Point, Russian Mission, Pilot Station and Marshall. The shelter is currently working to fill vacant positions at Nunam Iqua Kotlik as well as Mountain Village. Horn explained that they also have a coordinator trained who works with other advocates every week.
Horn said that the jobs are difficult to fill. “Once they receive an emergency call and are asked to take the victim (the victim) into their homes and they’re worried that they’ll have to let them into their house because the perpetrator could attack the household,” Horn said.
However, overall Horn and Long say the program has been beneficial to communities.
“It has been a success to date,” Long said. “We’re receiving the number of crisis calls and also an increasing number of women and children want to go to the shelter. It’s really unfortunate however we do have more information to share since the village resource advocates began.”
Leaders are involved in finding solutions to violence
Nearly 130 miles away to Anvik, Tami Truett Jerue is the executive director of the Alaska Native Women’s Resource Center stated that there’s a similar absence of police, however there aren’t any safe houses for survivors of dometic and sexual violence as well.
“In my area there’s no the option of calling 911. There’s no health insurance or police and you must take a plane in order to be able to get in and out of there.”
Jerue has been working to stop domestic violence and ensure the safety of Alaska Native people for decades. Last year, U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland was appointed Jerue for The Not Invisible Act Commission, which is an advisory panel comprised of law enforcement personnel, Tribal leaders, federal partners as well as service providers, relatives of deceased and missing people and survivors.
Jerue stated that what is happening at the Emmonak shelter Emmonak is doing is an excellent example of how tribes could become leaders in tackling domestic violence across the state.
She explained that Alaska Native people tend to be at the margins of services for victims and safety even though they comprise the majority of those who require services and she hopes to make that change.
“We are determined to reduce the current levels of violence that we observe towards our Tribal communities as well as Tribal people within our community, and in our communities, too,” she said.
At present, she explained police reports are essential to gain access to a primary federal source of funds that assists victims which is set aside under the U.S. Victims of Crime Act.
It could also disenfranchise small mostly Alaska Native communities like hers that lack police. In recent years it has been the case that federal authorities have created an funding stream to tackle this inequity.
Tribal Victim Services Set-Aside
The federal Tribal Victim Services Set-Aside Program provided a record amount of funds in the hands of Alaska Native tribes and tribes across the country to use for victim assistance, Jerue said. Her organization has been cooperating with Alaska tribes that haven’t before had budgets to provide these services.
The Crime victim specialist Kristi Travers has traveled to communities across the state to assist tribes develop sustainable programs by providing the direct delivery of education and support for technical aspects.
“If you’re in this to help protect victims and assist victims, their voices must be at the forefront every single time,” said Travers, who has been working with sexual and domestic violence assault programs that support Indigenous communities for more than 16 years.
The Tribal Services Set-Aside program began in the years 2018 and 2019, there was a fervent demand for tribes to apply for funds she explained. However, not every tribe had the funds to make grants to compete for funding even though their communities could be benefited from services.
In 2020, in response to the request of tribes across the nation The federal government restructured it to be a grant formula instead of having tribes contest for money.
“We’ve seen a huge increase in the amount of villages developing or improving their victim programs as a result of this financing,” Travers said.
This summer this summer, this summer, the U.S. Justice Department announced that $22 million would go to the 67 Alaska tribes. Jerue added that this would boost the amount of Alaska Native communities that can develop solutions that are suited to their specific needs.
The article was written as part of the Annenberg Center at USC to Health Journalism’s 2023 domestic Violence Effect Fund. It first appeared in Alaska Beacon and is republished here with permission.
A complete listing of Alaska shelters and services for victims providers is available here. .
