Policing the last frontier: Visions of social order and the development of the village public safety officer program in Alaska

The description of the origins and development of the Village Public Safety Officer (VPSO) Program, which serves the Native Communities of Alaska, is used to judge the validity of the dominant explanations (culture contact/social dislocation and underdevelopment/dependency) for the state of Native affairs in Alaska. Both explanations are found wanting as they do not explain the specific dynamics of change. An alternative theory ‐ an interested action model ‐ is advocated.

Key words:

• American Native
• police
• Alaska
• origins of police
• policing social order
• policing history
• theorising police