Haines will be getting a new Alaska Wildlife Trooper no later than May 1, Major Bernard Chastain said this week.
Wildlife trooper Trent Chwialkowski was awarded the bid for the position this week, Chastain said. Chwialkowski is transferring from Anchor Point, where he has worked since August 2010.
The Haines position has been vacant since June.
Haines’s prospects for getting a new wildlife trooper weren’t looking good several months ago when Department of Public Safety deputy commissioner Terry Vrabec said the job wasn’t being advertised, characterizing the position as “vacant and closed.”
Chastain said the department had to grapple with budget cuts and other factors before deciding to advertise the job.
“We bid locations depending on lots of different things. It was always slated to be filled, but with budget cuts we have to decide priority-wise where we are going to put our people,” Chastain said.
Chwialkowski has also worked as a wildlife trooper in Juneau, Palmer and Wasilla, Chastain said.
Chwialkowski was involved in a high-profile case in 2012 when he returned fire on an Anchor Point woman who shot at him when he tried to stop her car. The woman was charged with attempted first-degree murder.