Haines is a long way from Washington, D.C., and Haines Borough Police Chief Heath Scott has spent the last three weeks “getting used to the uniqueness of the situation” in a rural Alaska town of 2,500.
“Where I come from, hospitals are open 24 hours a day and the jail is not associated with the police department,” Scott said this week from his office in the Public Safety Building.
Scott started on the job July 18 after moving from Washington, D.C., where he worked the past eight years as deputy chief of the District of Columbia Protective Services Division. Scott referred to the organization as a “boutique agency” responsible for protecting facilities and government employees.
Scott is also adjusting to the heavy drinking that seems to be the “standard of Alaska” – he encountered the highest Breathalyzer reading of his career this week – and figuring out how to fill in where he’s needed. Recently, he responded to a fire call and hauled a hose about 100 yards.
“You have to learn to be a utility player here,” Scott said. “You have to be able to understand everything. You have to be able to catch, you have to be able to hit, you have to be able to field.”
Scott is 42, with slicked-back hair, black square-rimmed glasses, and a distinctive blonde mustache he fashions into two points. He has a wife and five children, two who will be coming to live in Haines.
“I’ve got zero arrogance about me. I want to be called Heath; I don’t want to be called Chief,” he said. “It is easier to do my job at a community level if I have partners and I have friends and I have colleagues.”
Scott said he is aware some residents might be wary of his lack of Alaska experience and arrival from a big city.
“I am attempting not to bring the big city here. I really am,” Scott said. “Every day, that is a conscious thought in my mind: ‘I don’t need to bring D.C. to Haines.’ At the same time, in this industry there are some best practices, and regardless of the size of your agency, there are some things that have to be followed.”
For example, there are industry standards for dealing with evidence, and the department needs to work on that, he said. “There should be no discussion at any time that, ‘Well, we don’t deal with evidence that way because we’re in Haines.’ No.”
Scott said he is going to spend his first three months on the job getting his feet under him by dealing with open investigations and complaints, taking an inventory of equipment, identifying gaps in policies and procedures, and pinpointing the unique expertise of each officer on staff.
“I really have to focus on, ‘Are we doing what we are supposed to be doing correctly? Do we have the equipment that we need to do it? Is the space of this environment appropriate?’ I don’t have an interview and interrogation room,” Scott said. Addressing the high staff turnover that has plagued the department is also important, Scott said, speculating that the past revolving door of officers may have been due to conflicting personalities as well as burnout.
“These guys were working lots and lots of hours,” Scott said. “I need to come in here as a new leader and say, ‘I’m compassionate. I know you have worked very hard. How can I help you?’ I believe it is my job to serve them, not the other way around.”
The department is currently operating with a four-member force – Scott, Sgt. Josh Dryden, officer Brayton Long and officer Chris Brown. It was previously a five-member operation before former manager David Sosa cut funding in 2015.
“You can only stretch four so far,” Scott said, referring to officers working overtime and covering stand-by shifts while also trying to travel for training and balance their personal lives.
The wheels are in motion to get a fifth officer position funded again, Scott said. Before he was officially hired, Scott contacted interim chief Dryden to work on a U.S. Department of Justice Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) grant.
The grant would pay for 75 percent of an officer’s salary for three years. “That would pay for 75 percent of a fifth guy,” Scott said. “I think we have a very good chance.”
During his May interview for the job with the Public Safety Commission, Scott said he would “fight tooth and nail” to install a resource officer at the Haines School. As a taxpayer and a parent, Scott said having a school resource officer is important to him, though it likely won’t happen any time soon.
“I think we’re going to wait and see what the new superintendent has (to say). He wants to take it slow,” Scott said. “A school resource officer makes a lot of sense, but I also have to be responsive to the entire community.”
Scott and his wife put their D.C. home on the market last week, and his family plans to move up once it sells.
“I love it here,” Scott said. “I’m not scared of small towns; I’m not scared of the people I’ve met. I don’t think there is too big of a challenge. I just want to chip away at it.”