The Haines Borough Assembly again discussed the merits of police patrols outside the townsite—shining a light on a more than year-long debate about police jurisdiction that has yet to be resolved.

Assembly member Brenda Josephson sparked the discussion when she asked borough manager Debra Schnabel why police were patrolling the Haines Highway beyond townsite boundaries.

The police are sensitive to traffic accidents involving people in construction zones, Schnabel said. The police department has “consciously made an overture to raise consciousness about the traffic patterns in a construction zone.”

“Is there a consciousness to our borough code that sets the jurisdiction and what the direction of the assembly has stated?” Josephson asked.

Borough code requires the police department to operate only in the townsite service area where residents are taxed for service. Officers are licensed and covered by insurance to police statewide.

Schnabel said she was unaware of any assembly direction that stated officers shouldn’t be patrolling outside the townsite. “If this assembly has made a directive, that needs to be stated,” Schnabel said. “I have understood us to be in a state of flux. I understand completely that there are some assembly members who voice that we should not be going outside the townsite.”

Last spring when he was interim manager, Brad Ryan directed police to respond to emergency services after hearing from residents out the highway who largely said they were resistant to active patrols, but wanted to be able to call the police for emergency services. The assembly has also maintained jurisdiction belongs to the Alaska State Troopers—a claim the troopers dispute.

In an effort to gauge potential cost and need of expanded police coverage, the assembly has directed staff to collect data on how many calls outside the townsite the department receives and which calls they respond to.

Police stopped six vehicles in May on the Haines Highway outside the townsite, according to police data. Between January and May of this year, the police department received 88 calls for service outside the townsite. Police have responded to 24 calls, 12 of which were traffic stops.

In May, George Campbell told borough staff that he had seen an increase in borough police vehicles outside the townsite. Campbell asked staff if the assembly changed the code.

Schnabel informed Campbell of the danger in the construction zone and asked him to “let it ride for a few months.”

Campbell told the CVN he’s glad officers are concerned about safety, but that his major concern is that borough staff are violating borough code, and the understanding for police to only respond to emergencies outside the townsite. He said allowing local police to patrol the state highway sets a precedent that areawide police responsibility falls to the borough.

“The staff has accepted responsibility for something that is not their decision to make,” Campbell said.

In a recent email to the manager, assembly member Tom Morphet wrote that the police should not be patrolling beyond their jurisdiction. He said if safety is a concern, those concerns should be relayed to the Alaska State Troopers.

“The Haines Highway is a state road, not a borough road,” Morphet said. “Further, beyond 4 Mile is outside of townsite police jurisdiction. Finally, time spent patrolling Haines Highway beyond 4 Mile…is robbing townsite taxpayers of the police service they pay for.”

A portion of sales tax, which is collected from all borough taxpayers, also funds the police department.

Schnabel, who has consistently lobbied for police expansion, responded that she thought it was foolish to expect the state troopers to respond to calls for service.

“I’m truly demoralized by the resistance this assembly has to resolving the issue,” she wrote to Morphet. “You seem to prefer ignoring the true need and cost of public safety to winning an argument with the State Troopers.”

The assembly rejected a staff proposed borough-wide policing ordinance last summer.