Alaska State Wildlife Trooper Wallace Kirksey is set to leave Haines for another station in October after just five months in the Haines post.

The State Troopers intend to fill the position, according to trooper spokesperson Ken Marsh.

Kirksey did not respond to requests for comment.

His departure will come in the same month as a potential ballot proposition that would allow for areawide policing.

At a recent borough meeting, assembly member Tom Morphet said that taking on areawide policing might encourage state troopers to pull their wildlife trooper position.

State troopers and the Haines Borough have long disputed which law enforcement agency holds primary responsibility policing outside of the townsite.

According to borough code and charter, the police department is only funded to operate within the townsite, but troopers maintain that the police department is responsible for providing service boroughwide due to “long-standing past practice,” according to a letter from the troopers to the borough in November.

“As soon as we make this statement that we’re taking on those powers, those troopers are gone,” Morphet said. “We are playing into their political game. We need to stand firm. This is going to cost us an arm and a leg, and the troopers are going to laugh their way all the way to the bank.”

Marsh said the troopers “would prefer not to speculate on hypothetical situations.”

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