Friday, February 06, 2009

Alaska police blotter gains an international following, describing madcap village crime

Dutch Harbor, in Alaska's Aleutian Islands, has gained notoriety as the site of "Deadliest Catch," the Discovery Channel show which chronicles the areas dangerous crabbing industry. But lately, Unalaska, the island jurisdiction that includes Dutch Harbor, has an international following for another reason -- its police blotter.

The report of calls to police, posted on a town Web site, documents “the sea of chaos that invariably exists wherever three fishermen have plenty of money and no imminent deadline for getting on a boat," writes Kim Murphy for the Los Angeles Times. Blotter reports by Sgt. Jennifer Shockley, an 11-year veteran of the police force, often sound like something from a slapstick comedy. Take one report written last summer: "Three juvenile boys phoned police and reported they had taken refuge inside a piece of playground equipment because they were in fear of imminent attack by a bald eagle. The suspect eagle hissed and puffed his chest feathers at the responding officer before flying from the area." (Read more)

In an interview with Victoria Barber of the Dutch Harbor Fisherman last month, Shockley said that she depends on her fellow police officers' sense of the absurd to capture the humor in many of the "Some calls are amusing from the moment our dispatcher gets the request for service, and others simply become silly as they progress." (Read more)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dutch Harbor authorities and citizens may not have much to worry about anymore. If this latest ruling impacts them..why is it that this reminds me of Clinton's land grab under the Antiquities Act, or Jimmy Carter's land grab of much of Alaska, or the fact the federal govt., state and local now control 42 percent of the land mass of what used to be the United States. The federal govt. and greens are the WORST kind of stewards of anything. Because of the unscience involved and the political and philosophical agenda...ending fishing in the Bering Seas will only hurt US resource users.. the Japanese, Russians, Somalians, Chinese and anyone else with fishing boat that can go to sea will tell the newly energized green gestapo to go fly a kite.

lastgleaming said...

NATION
Fisheries Group Bans Commerical Fishing in Arctic Waters
Dutch Harbor problems may be over with. Funny how the LA Times picks up this story just in time for the nanny staters to get all righteous and say.... 'they deserved it.' Remember .. karma even happens to self righteous nanny staters and greens on a mission from Gaia.

Federal fisheries managers voted today to bar all commercial fishing in U.S. waters from north of the Bering Straits and east to the Canadian border in light of the rapid climate changes that are transforming the Arctic.
(By Juliet Eilperin, The Washington Post)

Al Cross said...

To avoid any misapprehension, it should be noted that the recent U.S. fisheries order is not for the Bering Sea (shown on the map with this item) but for the Arctic Ocean, north of the Bering Strait, which joins said ocean with said sea.