''Alaska State Troopers'' is an American documentary television series that airs on

National Geographic Channel National Geographic (formerly National Geographic Channel; abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo or Nat Geo TV) is an American pay television television network, network and flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel owned by the National Geograp ...

and premiered on October 14, 2009. It is narrated by Marc Graue. The show follows the daily beats of various bureaus within the Alaska State Troopers. In addition, the show features segments that follow village public safety officers from small rural villages as well as officers from other cities such as

Wasilla Wasilla ( Dena'ina: ''Benteh'') is a city in Matanuska-Susitna Borough, United States and the fourth-largest city in Alaska. It is located on the northern point of Cook Inlet in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley of the southcentral part of the st ...

, Palmer,

Anchorage Anchorage () is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alaska by population. With a population of 291,247 in 2020, it contains nearly 40% of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring Ma ...

, and Soldotna. The show follows the exploits of a number of officers from all regions of the state. Troopers who are seen on the show include James and Anne Sears, Howie Peterson, Jon Simeon and Brent Johnson, Scott Quist, Odean Hall, Lonny Piscoya, Luis Nieves, Dan Dahl, Rick Roberts, Abraham Garcia, Dan Cox, Gabe Rich, Michael Munson, Jonathan Stroebele, Joshua Varys, JJ Hennessey, Melvin Colley, Ken Van Spronsen, Daron Cooper, Lance Ewers, Jared Noll, Terrence Shanigan, Blake Calhoun, Brandon Viator, Tony Wegrzyn, William Connors, Jimmy Buttrey, Kamau Leigh, and Garrett Frost. Although the show is aired in many countries, the National Geographic Channel has so far not released DVDs of the series outside of the United States. The fifth season premiered on September 15, 2013. The sixth season premiered on April 10, 2014. After a total of 8 seasons the series was not continued, because "It was just time to focus on the job of providing public safety without any added outside distractions".

Officers from the program who have died in the line of duty

On March 30, 2013, two troopers featured in the program were killed in a helicopter crash during a

search and rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...

(SAR) mission near

Talkeetna Talkeetna ( Dena'ina: ''K'dalkitnu'') is a census-designated place (CDP) in Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska, United States. At the 2020 census the population was 1,055, up from 876 in 2010. Geography Talkeetna is located at the confluence o ...

. Tage Brandel Toll and pilot Mel Nading were killed when they were returning with a rescued snowmobiler. The snowmobiler also died in the crash. In 2014, the NTSB concluded the accident was caused by pilot error, and the Alaska DPS and the Alaska state troopers' safety culture. The department had been neglecting the issues in the lack of training for both the pilot and observer. And the error of the pilot was to fly into the severely bad weather which he was not adequately trained for. On May 1, 2014, two troopers featured in the program were shot and killed in Tanana, a small town in Alaska's interior. The officers were reported to be Trooper Gabriel "Gabe" Rich (26) and Sgt. Patrick "Scott" Johnson (45). A 19-year-old man, Nathanial "Sach" Kangas, was arrested in connection with the shootings. Troopers had responded to the town after the local

village public safety officer The Alaska State Troopers, officially the Division of Alaska State Troopers (AST), is the state police agency of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is a division of the Alaska Department of Public Safety (DPS). The Alaska State Troopers is a full-ser ...

(VPSO) requested back up in an earlier incident involving the father of the shooting suspect. In addition to the murder charges against his son, the elder Kangas was arrested and charged with assaulting the VPSO, and for driving with a suspended license the previous day. To the date of writing, 4 officers who have participated in the show have been killed in the line of duty.

Episodes

Season 1 (2009)

Season 2 (2011)

Season 3 (2011-12)

Season 4 (2012-13)

Season 5 (2013)

Season 6 (2014)

Season 7 (2015)

References

External links

Official website

Alaska State Troopers on IMDB
{{National Geographic TV 2000s American documentary television series 2010s American documentary television series 2009 American television series debuts 2015 American television series endings 2000s American crime television series 2010s American crime television series Television shows set in Alaska Television shows set in Anchorage, Alaska National Geographic (American TV channel) original programming Alaska Department of Public Safety