A new public safety bill is making its way through the Alaska Legislature. The bill’s authors want to improve village public safety officer retention in Alaska, according to APM.

The Alaska VPSO Program was created to help tribal communities hire local public safety officers. VPSOs are more highly trained than tribal police officers or village police officers. They require background checks and training on par with Alaska State Troopers.

According to Joel Hard, the director of the state’s VPSO program, there were once over 30 VPSOs in the region. Now there are four. This creates a big public safety gap.