Original subtitles

(dramatic music)

- Policing Alaska's a little bit different

because of the extremes.

- Yeah that's right, man!

- It's just hard to find people who wanna do the job.

- Uh- oh.

- We're short-staffed, going call

to call to call to call.

(gun cocking)

- [Dispatcher] 10-4.

- AST's involved in a pursuit.

- Good hit, good hit!

- Nothing's more satisfying than catching a bad guy.

- Right here, right here!

Let me see your hands!

- I know there's the risk,

but that's what we signed up for.

- That's another knife!

(man screams)

- Son of a (beep)!

(dramatic music)

(bear roars)

- [Dispatcher] It is a 25-14

- [Officer] Hands behind your back!

(gun shot)

(eagle squaks)

(police siren wails)

- Being a cop in Alaska,

you have no idea what you're gonna get into.

But I wouldn't trade it for anything.

- [Officer] Hands behind your back.

Hands behind your back, dude!

- You have felony warrants, dude!

- Man, take these cuffs off me

I'll fight every one of you!

(Policemen yell)

- [Suspect] Yeah that's right, man!

- My name is Andrew Wixon

I've been with Fairbanks Police Department for two years.

Fairbanks is a beautiful place.

(soft music)

When I was growing up,

my whole life was devoted to baseball.

Working out, running, pitching,

I got a division one offer.

I went to college in New York,

pitched a year,

but I missed Fairbanks and Alaska so much

that I made the decision to stop playing baseball

and come home and pursue becoming a police officer.

I love being here.

But it's not like it was when I was growing up.

- The Alaska State Troopers

have released a list of the most wanted criminals

in the Fairbanks area.

- [Wixton] We have homicides, gun incidents.

- [News Reporter] They are wanted on charges

of vehicle theft, criminal impersonation.

- [Wixton] We have assaults, domestic violence.

- [News Reporter] Burglary, and weapons misconduct.

- And nothing's more satisfying

than catching a bad guy.

- [News Reporter] Donovan Lee Huntington

is wanted on charges of criminal mischief,

assault, and a riot charge.

- 10-four.

(police siren wails)

Donovan has two warrants out for his arrest.

The first warrant's, for assault two,

it's a $50,000 warrant.

His second warrant is for creating a riot

when he was in jail.

So we're gonna go see if we can find him.

- We've got a long, violent history with him.

He's not a very nice guy, quite frankly.

- All right, one on foot in front of us, guys.

Hey bud! Hey, hey, hey!

Stop!

Hey, take your hands out of your pocket.

Hey!

(police siren wails)

- [Broady] Except having 50k in warrants, bro!

- No dude.

- [Broady] You'll have to take it up with the

courthouse if you have a difference of opinion.

- [Wixton] You're the one who ran!

- And you got caught,

actually.

- I knew that face looked familiar, Donovan.

You're like ah, you tried to get away

you didn't even tell me your name too!

- I know, you gave me a false name!

Too bad I've dealt with you before.

And, up! There we go.

- You need to relax bud! - (beep) you man!

- Yeah that's right, man.

- [Broady] Stop it, dude.

You will not win this!

- (beep) try and throw me around, bitch!

- Get in the car!

Sit down!

- (beep) punk ass!

- [Wixton] Yeah I saw this dude walkin',

he saw the police car and put his

hood up real quick, I'm like,

"wait a minute, Donovan!"

"My name's George!"

(laughs)

- [Wixton] Got him.

- Good job, buddy.

- Got a little adrenaline jump

because I got a little foot pursuit.

I love it.

- The Golden Heart City is facing a shortage

of police officers,

which is raising concerns about the department's operations.

- We have a city of about 30,000 people.

Now there's two patrol officers on

day shift, swing shift, and night shift.

We're short-staffed on every shift.

And since he works day shifts,

Officer Butler, he takes the most calls

probably out of the entire department.

(upbeat music)

- I think you know it's cold when it's -40 Fahrenheit

and -40 Celsius all at the same time.

Crime doesn't stop at 40 below,

but you know what does stop?

The blood flow to my fingers and toes.

I work in a short-sleeved shirt

all year 'round.

No matter what the temperature is.

It's hard to move when you're wearing

coats and jackets.

Obviously I have to wear some things.

I have to wear my vest 'cause

I don't wanna get shot.

I gotta wear, y'know, pants because

if I showed up to work with no pants on,

it'd be a problem, right?

(laughs)

- [Announcer] Here come "Bolting" Jim Deringer

(upbeat music)

- [Announcer] Everybody gets to the finish...

(engine buzzing)

- [Flagman] All right.

- We got a report of a stolen snow blower last night.

Owner of the snow blower provided

security video that he had.

Two guys rolled up in a van.

Took the snow blower,

loaded it up in a van and left the area.

There's not really too much to go on.

You can't really see any details

of the people in the video.

One of our dispatchers actually

just located the van on the east side of town

in one of the neighborhoods over there.

It's so slick right now.

There's the van right there.

- Not that I saw.

(knocks on car hood)

Hello?

(knocks on car)

Can you take your hands

out of your pockets for me please?

Thank you sir.

Is that your van?

- My van?

Yes.

- Okay so we got a call this morning,

apparently a snow blower was taken last night

and that was the suspect vehicle,

or the vehicle someone taken it.

- So it was like stolen last night?

- Okay.

- [Butler] Okay.

- Your shed there,

can we look in there? - Yeah, that's fine.

- Just to make sure, you cool with that?

- [Man] Yeah.

- Yeah?

- Okay, let's see.

City 0-9.

- [Dispatcher] Go ahead.

- What type of snow blower was taken?

- Well, let's wait till the guy gets here,

I mean it may not be the snow blower.

- Okay.

- Okay.

Hey puppy!

- [Man] Mama, get over here!

- Take your hands out of your pockets for me, bud.

I don't know if you got any guns.

(dog barking in the distance)

(dramatic music)

(dramat)

- [Butler] We got a report of a stolen snow blower.

Is that it?

- Well there's definitely a snow blower

in there, we saw it, so.

I'ma be straight up with you,

right now I got nothing to prove

that you took it, okay?

I'm not gonna arrest you for it,

but what I am gonna do is look into it.

- Get over here, he's friendly.

- French Mastiff, right?

- No, Boerboel.

- Oh Boerboel, okay.

- [Man] Yeah, yeah she's an awesome dog.

- Yeah, she's pretty.

I'm just letting you know,

you already told me you weren't involved, so

if I figure out that it was you,

I'll be back, okay?

Take care of your baby there.

(dramatic music)

Normally we would do a full investigation

and charge somebody for this,

but at our current staffing levels,

it's not likely gonna happen.

All law enforcement right now is

struggling to get police officers.

It's just hard to find people who wanna do the job.

Because of the danger, the stigma.

It takes a rare person to be a cop,

especially in Alaska.

- I'm Officer Christopher Zenyuch.

In Fairbanks, going call to call to call to call,

but, y'know, the saying, "take one call at a time."

- Sounds like Officer Bonham's on a traffic stop

right now with a juvenile.

We're gonna head to him and go

help him out 'cause we're just right down the road.

- Hey I'm Officer Bonham, Fairbanks Police,

part of the Traffic Unit.

Are there any guns on you?

- [Broady] The driver just completely

failed to notify him of the fact that

he had a firearm in the vehicle.

- [Zenyuch] How old are you?

- You're 13, you know what time it is?

2:30 in the morning, right?

You got school tomorrow?

You're homeschooled? - [Passenger] Yeah.

What y'all doin' out this late?

You smoke weed tonight?

What about drinking, you been drinking tonight?

You don't drink? That's good.

What you doing out with this feller?

How old is he, 16?

Well your mom's on her way, okay?

- [Child] Okay.

- [Zenyuch] Here in Alaska,

sometimes we come across situations where

even us officers need to look them up

to make sure we get them right.

So, you gotta be 16 to have a firearm in the car.

Okay so you're good on that part.

But you're gonna get a warning for

running a red light and a citation

for having a passenger in your car

when you're not supposed to.

- She said that Mom might be a little mad.

A little upset. (laughter)

Wix, you got your flashlight real quick?

I just threw, accidentally threw

my flashlight in here and can't find it.

- You threw your flashlight in the trunk?

- There it is.

- Zenyuch, me and him work a lot together.

We get along pretty good.

We been caught making little side bets,

the first one to find somebody who ran from us

has to get the other person a drink.

We've actually had criminals, once we caught 'em,

ask who won the Gatorade.

(chuckles)

- Boyfriend hit her in the head with a metal bar.

- I-42, O-5.

Stop!

Fairbanks Police! Get your hands out each your pockets.

You got any weapons on you?

- [Zenyuch] Where they at?

Oh no, hold on, hold on, hold on--

- [Zenyuch] Stop, stop, stop!

- [Wixton] What is it?

- What's in here?

- [Wixton] How many weapons you got, bud?

- [Suspect] My wallet and my lighters...

- [Wixton] That's another knife!

Open!

Yeah!

- [Zenyuch] Everybody could have a knife.

A little kid, every adult can have one,

I mean you could be a felon

in Alaska and have a knife.

You see this thing man?

You could mess somebody up with that.

You're going in the car, bud.

- [Zenyuch] All right, I'll meet you there.

- [Wixton] Sounds good.

- [Zenyuch] What victim?

Before I ask you any questions,

let me go ahead and read you your Miranda then.

You have the right to remain silent.

- [Suspect] You ain't asking me nothing, man--

- [Zenyuch] I know I'm not,

and I'm not. If you cannot afford to

hire a lawyer, one will be--

- [Zenyuch] One will be appointed to

represent you in questioning if you wish.

Do you understand that you choose the

right to have these explained to you?

Is that a yes or a no?

- [Wixton] Fairbanks Police!

Where's (beep) at?

Is there anyone in the bathroom?

I'm gonna go check, okay?

- [Zenyuch] Where's the metal pipe

that somebody hit somebody with?

- [Wixton] You guys didn't see any

kind of fight in here?

See a pipe be used anywhere?

All right guys, have a good night.

- [Zenyuch] Well, we don't have anything.

No.

We don't have a victim,

we don't have a crime.

- [Wixton] When he takes his left hand

out of cuffs put it on top of your head.

Put it on top of your head.

Nobody said you were.

We had to give him back all those knives

that we find on him.

It's not a good feeling, but I don't have

the evidence to make an arrest.

As a police officer, someone calls for help,

You wanna go there, solve the problem,

and it is really frustrating.

(gun firing)

- [Woman] If you fall in the river, put your arms out!

(kids cheering)

- The AK Buffet what's supposedly going on?

What's going on?

- [Woman] Somebody backed into our car.

- [Butler] Okay whose--

- And we couldn't figure out what happened.

- [Butler] You have no idea who ran into your vehicle?

- [Woman] No.

(deaf man vocalizing)

- We were just having lunch.

He came in, he doesn't speak.

- [Butler] Oh, he's hearing challenged.

(deaf man vocalizing)

Do you have an injury?

Does it hurt?

Okay.

Did...

(deaf man vocalizing)

Somebody backed into the vehicle and hit you?

Were you right here?

And somebody backed into you?

Yeah?

Okay, okay.

Can we get medics?

(deaf man vocalizing)

- [Dispatcher] 10-4.

It's okay.

Sometimes it would be a lot easier

to have more people around

who have specialized skills,

but we don't have the resources.

(deaf man vocalizing)

Where's your car, where's your car?

Oh.

So, he ran into your car and that's

why his legs hurt.

- [Man] Yeah.

(deaf man vocalizing)

- [Man] He ran into her car.

- Yep, that's exactly what happened.

- [Man] Yeah.

- It was just a hearing challenged individual

trying to communicate that they hit their car

into another vehicle in the parking lot.

Do you have insurance?

We have to balance our time throughout

however many cases we have on our load.

Sometimes it's too much for one person.

- There's a male, and he's in the roadway.

He's threatening people.

(man screaming)

(dramatic music)

(man screaming)

- You all right?

- [Officer] You leg and your shoulder?

(groaning)

Here you go, go ahead.

- [Officer] Okay.

- Oh, okay.

- [Officer] All right, you need to go to the hospital maybe?

- Yeah we will get you there.

You wanna take him to the hospital?

- Okay.

(man groaning in backseat)

- [Man In Backseat] 911!

(man screaming)

All right let's go!

Yeah we're gonna have to lift him here.

- [Officer] You wanna grab that leg and we'll go up.

- [Man] You guys (beep).

(man screaming) - Come on.

(beep).

(exhaling softly)

(soft dramatic music)

- He jumped up and he just bolted.

I jumped on him to take him to the ground.

All my weight landed on his shoulder.

I felt like somethin's wrong.

Couldn't even stand up straight.

(machine beeping)

Come to find out you have a cracked rib.

(dog barking)

(giggling)

See when I laugh it hurts.

Put it on.

- Well...

(groaning)

Gentle.

I can't go in, do anything police related.

- Ice.

- It's demoralizing.

Especially with where we are with our staffing.

- I mean obviously we work at a dangerous job.

With Wixon being hurt, we're getting to the point

where we're gonna have no one soon.

It's really bad.

(upbeat rock music)

I have a new recruit.

He's from California.

- I'm super excited to be here.

This is my first week with the Fairbanks Police Department.

Actually day two.

- I do enjoy teachin' the new guys

and showin' 'em what to do.

It's really important for the rookies to know

that policing in Alaska is a little bit different

than your normal place because of the extreme.

(upbeat rock music)

I'm 5'5, so it's always good for somebody

that looks big and burly to be next to me.

- Hi.

- Don't ever walk behind me and pat me on the head

or somethin' 'cause I'll take you down

and it won't be pretty.

(laughing)

- I'm actually a little chilly right now.

I don't know how officer Butler does it

in short sleeves all day.

- I'm gonna head to one of my favorite spots.

It's usually a goldmine.

I'm just drivin' around tryin' to get him

some experience with traffic stops.

You never know with a traffic stop,

that's what makes 'em really dangerous.

(mumbling)

Blue Subaru, First and Cowls, plate's obscured.

- [Dispatcher] Ten-four.

(sirens wailing)

- Hi!

So the reason I pulled you over is one, you ran

the stop sign and then also you have a headlight out.

Do you have your driver's license,

registration, proof of insurance?

- [Driver] Registration.

- Perfect, very good.

And no weapons, guns, knives, hand grenades,

anything that'll hurt me?

- [Driver] Not unless you consider a dog a weapon.

- Okay perfect.

- His compassion that he shows the the individuals

that he makes contact with is very apparent.

- So I'm just gonna cut you loose with a warning.

Do me a favor though, please get that light fixed

as soon as you can and stop for those stop signs.

- [Woman] Yeah I understand, thanks for the warning.

- [Butler] Take care.

- There's a lot of information to take in from him

and it's all good stuff.

- Questions?

Concerns?

Comments, anything?

- No. - No?

(soft music)

Mostly you're gonna do everything like me

for the rest of your career 'cause I'm right

and everybody else is wrong, it's the way it is.

Yeah, yeah.

(soft music)

- This is one of those jobs where

you learn somethin' new everyday.

You just build that confidence over time.

You gotta be a sponge and absorb all the knowledge.

'Cause you never know what's out there lurkin'.

- Uh oh.

This is a shots fired call.

- We are meetin' up with the victim

to figure out what happened.

So tell me what's goin' on today.

- We broke up.

She just started shooting in the air.

Then she was shooting at my car.

- Okay.

Where do you think she might be going?

- I don't know.

- Okay.

- [Dispatcher] Units 25, 14.

- So right now we're just bein' mobile,

lookin' for the suspect vehicle.

(dramatic music)

(engine revving)

- I've had a lot of dealings

with people shootin' at you all the time.

It's definitely not somethin' you look forward to.

(sirens wailing)

(dramatic music) (sirens wailing)

- Somebody was shootin' at another vehicle.

Zenyuch comin' up.

- [Officer] Passenger, roll down the window,

open the door from the outside!

All right.

- [Officer] Keep steppin' back.

Keep your hands where we can see 'em.

Keep movin'.

- [Officer] Go ahead.

- [Officer] Reckless endangerment.

- [Officer] All right next one.

- [Officer] Gonna lock her back too.

- [Officer] You in the driver's seat,

go on, step out of the vehicle.

Step backwards to the sound of my voice.

Okay stop right there.

- Let's get her over here.

- I recall, you just put it away in your head.

And then it's on to the next case.

(soft dramatic music)

- So what's you number? - They're like 50 something.

- Fifety what? - O, five, three O.

- So, I have a recruit, Trevor Norris with me right now.

Started trainin' him, showin' what little I know.

- Geritt's got a nickname for me.

- [Officer] Nice.

- [Zenyuch] Shoot I gotta train you up right.

- For sure.

- This is my first time bein' a field training officer.

It's the next generation comin' in.

He's got a good head on him but book smart's one thing,

street smart goes along with it.

So, we'll see how he does on the street.

(upbeat rock music)

- [Wixon] I did not like the situation

I was leaving the guys in.

I'm real happy bein' back out here doin' what I love to do.

I'm good to go.

(dramatic music)

- 10-4.

AST's have all been in pursuit.

- [Dispatcher] 33 Main. - [Trooper on radio] 10-four.

- [Officer] See if you can get help from above.

- [Andrew] They have a fail to yield.

- [Andrew] It sounds like he's goin' about 30 to 40

over the posted speed limit runnin' stop signs.

- No.

We can pretty much assist but we're not

gonna chase the vehicle.

(siren wailing)

- Ooh she's slick.

Roads are not in the greatest shape right now.

- The dike can really help a lot

'cause there's only one road, I can easily set spikes up.

1905, I'm gonna be out in front of y'all.

Coachbin tryin' to get spikes.

(sirens wailing)

We're gonna set up high here.

He's gonna have to come right towards me.

1905, you're comin' right at me?

I got good spikes on top.

(sires wailing)

(soft dramatic music)

(sirens wailing)

(soft dramatic music)

- [Wixon] 19, good hit, good hit!

(groaning)

We are chasin' him until his tire runs flat.

(sirens wailing)

- Wixon's at Cuchman and the dike

so we're gonna go there and help him.

- Man.

(sirens wailing)

- We got a foot bail.

(sirens wailing)

- He coulda jumped the fence right there.

Maybe that's the only chance out right there.

Otherwise he woulda had to break fresh snow.

Yeah the frost on the top of the fence isn't even broken.

Yeah I don't think he went here man.

- [Officer] Right here, right here, right here!

(soft dramatic music)

- [Officer] You're good.

- Let me see your hands, let me see your hands!

Step outta the car, face away from me!

- [Officer] Step outta the car!

- [Suspect] Hell no, not me.

- Yes you, you're all covered in snow man.

(tense dramatic music)

- Okay, on the ground.

- Get on the ground, get on the ground,

get on the ground, get on the ground!

- I'm not fightin'! - Get on the ground!

Stop resisting!

Stop resisting! - [Suspect] I'm not.

(dog barking) Stop resisting!

Get your hands behind your back!

- [Wixon] All right.

- [Officer] Ready, ready, one, two, three.

Let's walk him over to the car,

just to get outta here.

(dog barking in distance)

We won't go in that one, there's a dog in that one.

- It's really good to be back on the road.

I actually love this.

I live for these.

You know, the person runs and you go get him.

And in the snow, I love that.

What do you want?

Go away.

(soft dramatic music)

- [Recruit] Are there a lot of pursuits

like that in Fairbanks?

- I mean there's quite a few.

You never know what you're gonna

get yourself into around here.

- That's pretty wild.

I can't believe I get paid to do this.

- [Butler] Are you letting him call you Z?

- It's supposed to be the 22nd.

- He feels entitled 'cause he's dictorian.

(laughing) - Bro, I've been here for like 3 weeks.

- I don't sit at a desk.

I get to help people on some of their worst

days of their entire life.

(sirens wailing)

- If you wanna work with the best of the best,

you gotta work in Alaska.

- [Officer] I have a feelin' these guys are gonna do good.

- And I'm excited for what's gonna come.