The Alaska State Troopers will begin using a new statewide alerting platform beginning July 1, 2022, to alert Alaskans to timely information regarding Alaska State Troopers operations in their area, according to a Dept. of Public Safety press statement dated June 21. The new tool will allow Alaskans to subscribe to email and SMS alerts initiated from the Alaska State Troopers. The Alaska State Troopers’ current Nixle-based alerting capabilities will be ended on June 30, 2022, as the new system comes online, according to the press statement.
Alaskans can self-subscribe for alerts from Troopers by region, which include the Mat-Su Valley, Interior, Kenai Peninsula, Southeast, Kodiak, and Western Alaska. Alaskans can also subscribe to receive statewide missing persons bulletins whenever one is issued by the Alaska Missing Persons Clearinghouse. This new system will provide alerts related to significant law enforcement activity in an area, evacuation information, missing persons bulletins, suspect information, and other timely alerts.
"While Nixle was a great partner for DPS over the last several years, our new alerting tool will provide us greater flexibility and capabilities and allow for growth into the future," Alaska Dept. of Public Safety Commissioner James Cockrell said in the press statement. "We are committed to providing Alaskans with timely information about our operations in their communities, and this new alerting tool will help us continue to meet that goal."
The new alerting tool will join the state’s 511 system for road closures and traveler information, and the AKTips anonymous crime tip tool for submitting anonymous crime tips to law enforcement. The State of Alaska will continue to use the Amber Alert and Silver Alert systems as part of our partnership with the Alaska Broadcasters Association and Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.
Alaskans interested in signing up for alerts through the new DPS alerts tool can do so online at: https://alerts.dps.alaska.gov/subscribe. If Alaskans are currently subscribed to Nixle alerts they will need to sign up for the new alerts system to continue to receive alerts after July 1.
