After reviewing a draft charter amendment requiring police to respond to emergencies outside the townsite, members of the Haines Borough Assembly’s Government Affairs and Services Committee determined revisions were needed.

The question of policing outside the townsite came under increased scrutiny after Haines lost its “blue shirt” Alaska State Trooper in 2017. According to borough charter, the borough may provide “emergency dispatch” on an areawide basis. However, police service is limited to the townsite.

At the end of last year, the assembly adopted a resolution interpreting charter to specifically allow for areawide emergency police service. Supporters said police have traditionally responded to emergencies outside the townsite and that the resolution would make this explicit as a temporary solution until a charter amendment could be put before voters in the October 2020 election. Opponents said the assembly was overstepping its authority by reinterpreting charter and should, instead, seek to change the charter. Former assembly member Sean Maidy resigned in protest against the resolution.

The charter amendment the GAS Committee discussed on May 7 was put forward by assembly member Paul Rogers. It would add “emergency police response outside the townsite” as the thirteenth areawide power. The proposed charter amendment specified that police response was contingent upon the absence of a blue shirt trooper assigned to Haines and that the police department would be reimbursed for services after the fact.

Assembly members and borough staff at the meeting had a number of suggestions for revisions.

Borough clerk Alekka Fullerton said normally, a charter amendment would not contain specifics like language relating to funding sources. Specifics should be handled through an ordinance amending borough code.

Assembly member Brenda Josephson said since the argument in support of last year’s resolution was that the term “emergency dispatch” had been intended to refer to police response, the charter amendment should expand the definition of emergency dispatch to make this clear, instead of creating a new, separate areawide power.

Josephson said police might still need to respond to emergencies outside the townsite, even if a trooper was present, so one shouldn’t be contingent upon the other.

For a domestic violence call, the trooper would routinely request backup from the Haines Police, assembly member Gabe Thomas said.

Members of the GAS Committee requested that Fullerton work with Rogers and the borough attorney to come up with a new draft of the charter amendment that expands emergency dispatch to include police response and to create an accompanying ordinance that addresses other aspects like reimbursement for services and the relationship between state troopers and Haines Police.

GAS Committee members will consider the drafts at their next meeting on June 2.