Alaska's Village Public Safety Officers (VPSOs)
endure working conditions unlike those faced by others responsible for
law enforcement. These officers usually serve in a geographically
isolated Alaska Native village by themselves and are sometimes an hour
or more away by air from back-up law enforcement. VPSOs are expected
to be on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in order to deal with the
problems that arise in what are some of the most violence- and
accident-prone places in the nation. Since 1983, the first year for
which adequate records are available, turnover in the VPSO program had
averaged 36 percent per year. This study was designed to examine the
high turnover rate in the VPSO program. The goals were to help guide
the design of future delivery of public safety services to Alaska
villages and to add to what was a limited understanding of policing in
places with tiny populations. Previous researchers had commented on
the relative lack of research about police departments with very few
officers. Of the research that had been conducted, officer turnover
had been mentioned as a prime difficulty in these small
departments. The present study builds upon that research by examining
both the amount of turnover in the VPSO program as well as the factors
thought to be associated with it.
The survey instrument was administered to former
and currently-serving VPSOs from October 1998 to January 1999. Two
slightly different versions of the questionnaire, primarily involving
changes in verb tense, were developed for currently employed officers
and for formerly employed officers. The survey questions were
developed from three different perspectives: (1) general police
research that focused on the role of job stress and dissatisfaction
with salary and benefits, (2) research on the problems faced by rural
police officers, and (3) research regarding the difficulties of
policing Alaska Native communities using Alaska Native
employees. Draft copies of the survey were sent to the regional
nonprofit corporation VPSO coordinators for their comments on the form
and content of the questions. The draft of the survey was also
examined by Alaska State Troopers affiliated with the VPSO
program. The former VPSOs were offered $10 as incentive to
participate, and both current and former VPSOs were offered a chance
to win a $500 gift certificate to Wal-Mart for their participation. A
total of 109 surveys were mailed out to former VPSOs during the first
week of November 1998. Six weeks after the first mailing, a reminder
letter was sent and follow-up telephone interviews were attempted with
nonrespondents. A second reminder letter was sent to nonrespondents in
mid-January 1999. About half of the surveys of the 75 current officers
were administered at one of two regional training sessions held in
October 1998. The remainder of the surveys were mailed to the current
VPSOs at the beginning of November 1998. A reminder letter was sent to
the current VPSOs in mid-December 1998 combined with follow-up
telephone calls.
Convenience sampling.
Former and current Village Public Safety Officers in
Alaska.
Individuals.
mail-back questionnaires and telephone interviews
survey data
Information was collected on the respondent's
motivation for becoming a VPSO, length of time working as a VPSO, if
the respondent was satisfied with the pay, retirement benefits,
training, housing, and safety, if it was difficult for the respondent
to enforce laws against relatives, the respondent's perception of the
community's support and expectations, and their job-related stresses,
role conflicts, duties, and demands. Those who had left the job were
also asked about their post-VPSO employment. Demographic variables
include the respondent's age, race, sex, marital status, education,
military experience, and whether the officer was an Alaska Native.
There was an overall response rate of 61 percent
(48 percent former VPSOs, 81 percent current VPSOs).
Several Likert-type scales were used.