Public Safety

Three people sitting around tables discussing topics. There are two TVs with people on the screens

Reports of sexual assault in Nome are down about 50% in the first nine months of 2021 compared to the same period in 2020. But it’s difficult to determine what exactly that means.

Black and white image of helicopter on the ground.

The watchstanders at the Coast Guard 17th district command center received a call, at 11 p.m. on Oct. 28, informing them of overdue boaters in need of aid on the Sinuk River near Nome, Alaska. The watchstanders directed the launch of an aircrew, Oct. 29, to bring the boaters survival supplies, and a helicopter crew to rescue the boaters later in the day.

The beginning of the Shaktoolik coastal berm. Photo: Anna Rose MacArthur.

Travis Savetilik stepped into the role of Shaktoolik’s Village Public Safety Officer on July 12. He graduated from the Alaska Law Enforcement Training program in Sitka a month earlier.

A Coast Guard helicopter lands at the seasonal base in Kotzebue.

A crew from the Coast Guard’s Air Station in Kodiak opened the seasonal forward operating location in Kotzebue as a response to warming waters and increased ship traffic in the Arctic.

Close-up of a white Nome Police Department vehicle.

Police arrested twenty-year old Javen Slwooko of Gambell in the Hansons grocery store on an active arrest warrant. He was mandated to return to the Seaside Center after completing his shift at Hanson’s on Friday, April 23rd but did not– prompting authorities at Seaside to notify the Nome Police for Slwooko’s arrest.

The head of Alaska’s Wildlife Disease and Health Surveillance Program confirms that the City of Nome has a higher than normal case count of rabies in the red fox population.

Nome’s Public Safety Advisory Commission convened this month to discuss the drafted use of force policy. After several cancelled meetings due to COVID-19, and failing to make quorum, the commission did meet on Monday for the first time since October of 2020.

Nome courthouse staff confirm Bradley Gene Okpealuk was arraigned this morning and his case now moves onto a trial. In-person jury trials resumed in Nome earlier this month.

Man in green kuspuk holds green bottle while standing on beach on cloudy day

A local Shishmaref fundraiser is aiding residents who lost their home in a fire early Sunday morning. Law enforcement say other crimes took place leading up to the blaze that same day.

Wanted Suspect turned himself into State Troopers on July 22nd in Kobuk. Photo: Alaska State Troopers file.

On Thursday last week, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Alaska announced that 35-year-old Alfred Morgan of Aniak had been indicted on federal gun charges.