SCR 19-PROCLAIMING UNITED STATES MARSHALS DAY  8:21:28 AM CHAIR LYNN announced that the next order of business was SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 19, Proclaiming September 24, 2012, to be United States Marshals Day. 8:21:33 AM CHUCK KOPP, Staff, Senator Fred Dyson, Alaska State Legislature, presented SCR 19 on behalf of Senator Dyson, sponsor. He said the U.S. Marshals Service was formed by U.S. Congress through the Judiciary Act of 1789. Shortly after the U.S. purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867, Alaska was designated a military district of the U.S. and placed under the control of the War Department. Following that, Alaska was briefly governed in succession by the Treasury Department and the Naval Department, and the U.S. Marshals Service took over in the late 1880s, when the Wild West and gold rush were in full force. In 1897, Deputy Marshals William C. Watt and James Mark Rowan were the first to be killed in the line of duty. Shortly after that, Clyde Calhoun - a former U.S. Marshall from Dodge City, Kansas - died in Alaska in the line of duty. MR. KOPP said the U.S. Marshals Service played a prominent role in Alaska's history up until 1955. In 1949, he noted, the Alaska Territorial Legislature formed the Alaska Territorial Police, but were not given criminal enforcement powers until they were made deputy U.S. Marshals in 1954. In 1955, the Territorial Police assumed full police powers, and in 1959, the State Territorial Police was formed, a large portion of which was comprised of former U.S. Marshals. 8:24:03 AM MR. KOPP said SCR 19 would proclaim September 24 as U.S. Marshal Day in Alaska. He pointed to recommendations in the committee packet from: Joseph Masters, the commissioner of the Department of Public Safety; the Alaska Peace Officers Association; and the Alaska Association of Chiefs of Police. He stated that of the first 14 police officers that were killed in the line of duty in Alaska from 1897 to 1955, eight were U.S. Marshals. He said today U.S. Marshals work with the Village Crime Reduction Program, the Sex Offender Registry Identification Compliance Project, and with the Badges and Books Program - a literacy and community relationship building project along the Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers. 8:25:04 AM MR. KOPP, in response to Chair Lynn, described the differences between a municipal policeman, an Alaska State Trooper, and a U.S. Marshal. 8:26:12 AM MR. KOPP, in response to Representative P. Wilson, he indicated that [the U.S. Marshals] requested a one-time recognition of their service to Alaska, rather than a recognition that would be repeated annually. In response to a follow-up question, he confirmed that the sponsor does not intend for this issue to be brought up every year. 8:27:19 AM REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG offered his understanding that there was no U.S. Marshall available to testify. He related that last year in his district, the U.S. Marshals manned a booth during a community event. He said he thought that was a good interaction with the children in his district, so he suggested the school principal invite the U.S. Marshals to visit the school. He said he would like to see more interaction happen, and suggested that perhaps 9/24 would be an appropriate day for the U.S. Marshals to outreach to the schools. MR. KOPP said he thinks that is a great suggestion, and he said he would follow up on it. 8:29:54 AM REPRESENTATIVE P. WILSON noted that 9/24 falls on a Monday. 8:30:11 AM CHAIR LYNN, after ascertaining that there was no one else who wished to testify, closed public testimony. 8:30:21 AM REPRESENTATIVE KELLER moved to report SCR 19 out of committee with individual recommendations and the accompanying fiscal notes. There being no objection, SCR 19 was reported out of the House State Affairs Standing Committee.