Blog: Dermot Cole
Extreme tube time for Troopers
Published Tuesday, October 13, 2009
•The latest in the blizzard of extreme this or that TV shows about Alaska features the Alaska State Troopers on the National Geographic channel.
It opens Wednesday at 9 p.m., highlighting the Arctic Man, described as "Alaska's version of Mardi Gras." The series was filmed over a 10-month period starting last fall.
Whether this is the kind of notoriety that the state government had in mind when it allowed the crews access to the Troopers remains to be seen. Judging by the advance publicity, the show reinforces the image that life in Alaska is one perilous moment after another.
Every idea that succeeds on TV is cloned, which is why there has been a series of shows that depict everything about Alaska in the most dramatic and extreme terms.
The the post-Northern Exposure era, confrontation is everything.
Enter the world of "Deadliest Catch," "Alaska: Most Extreme," "Tougher in Alaska," "Alaska: Dangerous Territory," "Ice Road Truckers" and other harrowing adventures.
(The latter show asserts that "hundreds of truckers" have died on the Dalton Highway, which is the most extreme (and false) claim that I have seen: "Hundreds of talented truckers have lost their lives trying to navigate this route, where one literally never knows what lies around the bend--from unexpected weather to dangerous whiteouts to treacherous terrain.")
In TV's view of "reality, " the Dalton Highway is the most dangerous road in America, the wolf is always at the door, every Alaskan believes in "Have Gun, Will Travel," and we have no end of candidates for the biggest loser.
One slice of reality that the information posted on the National Geographic site conveys all too well is that we often have Troopers responding to dangerous situations by themselves.
Here is a link that includes recordings of Trooper radio dispatches and high speed runs to such threats as a 220-pound man who beat a woman at a home near Seven Mile Chena Hot Springs Road. She locked him out of the house and called 911.
"We like to run with multiple people to calls, but unfortunately sometimes we don't have that option," a Trooper on that call says to the reporter in the car. http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/alaska-state-troopers-interactive
In our community, for instance, we have inadequate trooper staffing, yet there is a built-in institutional reluctance for the state Department of Public Safety or the Alaska State Troopers to publicize the topic. Our elected officials don't discuss it and there is no public forum where it is analyzed.
Most of the people in the Fairbanks area live in neighborhoods where the Troopers are the responding agency, yet only a handful of them are on duty at a time.
Perhaps this TV show will help lead to a public discussion about law enforcement in the areas outside the city boundaries as well elsewhere in Alaska where the Troopers represent law and order.
Here is what the producer and writer of the National Geographic show says about the fight to preserve law and order at the Arctic Man:
"The combination of heavy alcohol use and high-powered snow machines and ATVs can easily become deadly.
And having under twenty troopers at the event to deal with over 10,000 revelers in a remote location presents a tremendous law enforcement challenge.
The troopers’ presence alone at the event can deter people from taking chances on their own vehicles after they’ve had a few. Many decide to take advantage of the “I’m Drunk Bus” which picks up partiers at the bar tent and drives them back to their campsite. But for some, the accessibility of the bus wasn’t enough and the troopers intervened, making a number of DUI arrests.
It came as no surprise that to some people, the troopers represented some sort of government-sponsored intrusion on their good time.
Verbal harassment of troopers who patrolled the park on foot and by truck and four-wheeler was prevalent throughout the long weekend.
Entire crowds of people chanting “F--- the Police!”, guys mooning, and baiting the troopers to use their tasers on them were all par for the course at the four-day event.
What came as a surprise to me was the amount of courtesy and discretion the troopers exhibited in the face of all the madness.
One gentleman who decided to urinate on an RV in the middle of a crowded street was simply given a warning, and as Trooper Howie Peterson told me afterwards, “right now, that’s the least of our worries.”
There was a line to cross though, and reckless behavior was not tolerated in any form. In the early morning hours on Saturday night, a fight broke out inside the bar tent and spilled into the parking lot.
All available troopers rushed to the scene and Trooper Jason Woodruff immediately began tending to a man who appeared to be a victim in the scuffle.
The trooper attempted to sit the man down on a nearby tailgate so the medics could attend to his bloody face, but he didn’t want his help. Instead, he told Trooper Woodruff that if he didn’t let go of him, he’d spit blood all over him. And then sure enough, in a very surreal moment, he did just that.
Trooper Woodruff’s face, uniform, even the inside of his mouth was covered with the man’s blood.
Woodruff and two other troopers quickly took him down to the ground and cuffed him, and took him to the medic’s tent to get him medical attention for the injuries he sustained in the initial fight.
For more by D.L Stern, go to: http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/alaska-state-troopers/4661/Overview#tab-blog
"...life in Alaska is one perilous moment after another."
Ah, the media...and those who allow themselves to be portrayed in such a way. You KNOW the media is going to spin it, but it would be the responsible thing of AST to correct the sensationalism.
Then again, all that DRAMA and SUSPENSE sure adds weight to the need for new sports cars and higher salaries.
I've seen all of these shows and the exaggerated tones in the voices of Thom Beers (Deadliest Catch) and Geo Beech (Tougher In Alaska) are sometimes a little too much. It's like watching the evening news of the networks and hearing the almost hysterical rants of the "seasoned" news reporters.
But I'll guess I'll watch anyway.
Shokd-Sounds like you have a problem with the LEO's, what's wrong, one too many encounters with the law? I'm sure you didn't deserve it though right?
"And having under twenty troopers at the event to deal with over 10,000 revelers in a remote location presents a tremendous law enforcement challenge."
1 to 500 ratio is not out of line with police staffing in the US.
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