Next to schools, public safety is one of the most crucial services provided by government. The Mat-Su Borough has done an outstanding job of providing fire protection, emergency medical care, and search and rescue, mostly with volunteers. I would encourage the continued upgrading of equipment and the recruiting and training of volunteers.

     The Borough does not provide law enforcement here, like in the counties in the lower 48 with sheriffs, but it is provided by the Palmer and Wasilla Police departments in those cities. In the rest of the Borough, law enforcement is provided by the Alaska State Troopers. All three of these agencies receive support from the Mat-Su Borough in many ways, and I believe this support needs to continue or increase in order to improve the safety of everyone--our children, us, and visitors alike.

     I’ve read and heard that there has been an increase of burglaries in the Borough recently. Normally this is a result of increased illegal drug use. Some time ago, the three law enforcement agencies mentioned above formed the “Mat-Su Drug Task Force”. I would like to know what the Borough could do to improve and help them fight the war on drugs. Every day these brave people put their lives on the line to make us safer.

     I recently read where business owners in some areas that have been hit hard by these thieves have started a type of “Neighborhood Watch” program to fight back. I believe the Borough used to provide Neighborhood Watch kits, signs, and training for neighborhoods. I’d like to see renewed emphases on neighborhood safety and awareness. It’s good practice to be a good neighbor.

     Former Wasilla police chief Charlie Fannon has done an outstanding job to move us into the 21^st century as far as public safety communications. He has solicited the support of most local and State agencies that use 2-way radios in this area and secured federal funding to build a new dispatch center that would utilize new state-of-the-art digital radios and computer networks.

     I wholeheartedly support this awesome project. It would have many major benefits for public safety. Just a few of these are: secure communications (to keep criminals from monitoring), any radio that is lost or stolen can be remotely disabled, faster and more efficient access to criminal records, and compatibility with federal agencies. This last one would be most important in a major disaster or joint operations.