Attorney General William Barr's visit to Alaska shines light on the "neediest people"
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/attorney-general-william-barr-visits-alaska-shines-light-on-public-safety-emergency/A boat is required to reach the remote fishing village of Napaskiak in southwest Alaska. But this is one of the places Attorney General William Barr came to see.
As he made his way along the boardwalks that wind through the village, he heard how the isolation has made the residents vulnerable, reports CBS News correspondent Jan Crawford.
In a meeting at the local school, the village's tribal chief pleaded for help and protection. "We need serious public safety here," said Stephen Maxie Jr. "We may be poor, we may be the poorest people and the neediest people, but we should matter."
Alaska has the highest rates of domestic violence and sexual assault in the United States – three times the national average. But an investigation by the Anchorage Daily News and ProPublica found one in three communities in Alaska had no local enforcement officers. And there, sex crime rates are even higher. Help can be hours or a day away.
In addition to a lack of transportation further isolating these remote communities, the problems they face include alcohol, which is banned in most of communities but still available in towns and smuggled in. It is a factor in almost all cases involving assault, violence and suicide.
This village has new tribal police officers, but with no training. Their jail is used primarily as a drunk tank; 97% of the crimes committed by Alaska natives involve alcohol....