Alaska
Alaska’s Police Standards Council (APSC) certifies police, probation, parole, and correctional officers, and its regulations require revocation on listed grounds, such as a misdemeanor domestic-violence conviction or a felony conviction after hire. Since 2023 the State has made cultural training on missing and murdered Indigenous persons a condition of police appointment, APSC has added supervisory and management certificates, and a 2026 law lets peace and correctional officers enroll in an address confidentiality program. No law requires a public list of decertified officers, but APSC posts its revocation and surrender orders.
- Sources checked
- Part of
- Officer Ledger
At a glance
- Certifying body
- Alaska Police Standards Council (APSC), created in the Department of Public Safety. It sets minimum standards for and certifies police, probation, parole, correctional, and municipal correctional officers (AS 18.65.140, 18.65.220), and it certifies village police officers under 13 AAC 89. Village public safety officers are regulated by the Department of Public Safety, not APSC.
- Statute
- AS 18.65.130 to 18.65.290: council powers, training, standards, certificates, denial, and revocation (AS 18.65.240). Rules: 13 AAC 85.
- Minimum standards
- By statute, a person may not be appointed as a police officer, except on probation, without council-approved basic training, including at least 12 hours each on domestic violence and sexual assault, and the council’s other qualifications (AS 18.65.240(a)). Since January 1, 2025, the person must also have completed cultural training on missing and murdered Indigenous persons; officers certified on or before that date have until January 1, 2027 (SB 151 sec. 6). By regulation, an agency may not hire a police officer unless the person is a U.S. citizen or national, is 21 or older, has good moral character and a high school diploma or GED, is certified physically capable by a licensed physician, advanced practice registered nurse, or physician assistant, and passes an exam by a psychiatrist or psychologist. Disqualifiers include any felony conviction, a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence, listed crimes within 10 years before hire (crimes of dishonesty or moral turpitude, crimes causing serious physical injury, or 2 or more DUIs), and certain drug use. A person is also disqualified if certification was denied, revoked, or surrendered in Alaska or another jurisdiction, or is under suspension elsewhere. The agency must confirm the standards within 30 days of hire (13 AAC 85.010).
- Decertification
- The council “may deny or revoke” a police certificate when the officer does not meet the standards (AS 18.65.240(c)). By regulation, the council “may revoke” for falsification, discharge or resignation under threat of discharge for inefficiency or detrimental conduct, or failing the standards. It “will revoke” for a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence, a felony or listed misdemeanor after hire, marijuana or illegal drug use after hire, or discharge for conduct that raises substantial doubt about honesty, fairness, and respect for others’ rights (13 AAC 85.110). Agencies must report separations within 30 days. The report must say whether a resignation was to avoid adverse action, and whether any resignation or termination involved a finding or allegation of dishonesty, misconduct, or lack of good moral character. Agencies must also report sustained misconduct that may be cause for revocation, and may not agree not to report (13 AAC 85.090).
- Public decertification list
- No statute or regulation requires one. APSC’s Council Decisions page posts revocation and surrender orders by officer name, including orders from 2024 to 2026. APSC’s own files are confidential by regulation, but adverse information may be given to a hiring agency (13 AAC 85.010(f)).
- National Decertification Index
- None in law. Neither AS 18.65 nor 13 AAC 85 names the Index. APSC’s user guide, dated June 1, 2021, tells agencies to check APSC, the Index, and other states’ standards bodies, says Alaska contributes to and uses the Index, and has an appendix about it (APSC user guide, pp. 19–20 and Appendix C). This is agency guidance, not law.
- Continuing training
- No periodic in-service hours are required to keep a basic police certificate. A certificate lapses after 12 consecutive months without police employment, and reinstatement after a lapse of 12 months or more requires a recertification academy. A certificate expires after more than 4 years in lapse (13 AAC 85.120). Intermediate and advanced certificates use training-hour formulas (13 AAC 85.040).
Changes, 2023 to 2026
Peace and correctional officers may enroll in a new address confidentiality program
The omnibus crime act creates an address confidentiality program in the Department of Administration. Victims of domestic violence and similar crimes, peace officers, correctional officers (including municipal correctional staff), and their household members may enroll. Enrollment lasts five years. Agencies must accept the program’s substitute mailing address. Unauthorized disclosure of an enrollee’s address is a class A misdemeanor in listed cases, and the address must be disclosed to a peace officer under a search warrant. AS 44.21.022 is a new section; sec. 74 adds a matching duty to AS 44.21.020. The act does not change access to officer misconduct or personnel records.
For officers: If you enroll, agencies must accept the program’s substitute address in place of your home address.
Supervisory and management certificates added; intermediate and advanced levels for corrections officers
New 13 AAC 85.045 creates supervisory and management certificates for police. The supervisory certificate requires an intermediate or advanced certificate, 12 months supervising, 80 hours of supervisor training, and 40 more hours. The management certificate requires a supervisory certificate, 12 months supervising first-line supervisors, 80 hours of management training, and 40 more hours. Amended 85.230 and 85.235 add intermediate and advanced certificates for probation, parole, correctional, and municipal correctional officers, and new 85.232 and 85.237 add supervisory and management levels for them. The basic hiring, denial, and revocation standards were not part of this filing.
For officers: These higher certificates are optional; the minimum standards to be hired and keep your certificate did not change.
Cultural training on missing and murdered Indigenous persons required for police appointment
A person may not be appointed as a police officer, except on probation, unless the person has also “completed cultural training supervised by an indigenous coordinator or indigenous entity in the state that is related to addressing the rates of missing and murdered indigenous persons.” Under sec. 6, a person holding a certificate on or before the effective date has two years from that date, to January 1, 2027, to comply. The 12-hour domestic violence and sexual assault training requirements predate the act. The act also created the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Review Commission and Department of Public Safety duties, including NamUs reporting within 60 days, which are outside officer certification.
For officers: If you were certified on or before January 1, 2025, complete the cultural training by January 1, 2027.
Not yet in force and pending
- Correctional officer hiring age: APSC proposed amending 13 AAC 85.210 and 85.900 to lower the minimum hiring age for correctional officers to 18 (project 2023200360; notice dated September 27, 2023, whose heading cites 85.215). No adoption notice was found, and 13 AAC 85.210(a)(2) still reads “21 years of age or older.” Proposal notice
These bills were not enacted: SB 23 (33rd Legislature) and SB 42 (34th Legislature) on APSC duties, police standards for municipal police, and use-of-force incident reporting; HB 250 (34th Legislature), a crime of wearing a mask in public while acting as a peace officer; SB 53 (34th Legislature), accreditation standards for law enforcement agencies; and HB 377 (34th Legislature), public records and audio and video recordings. Each was held in committee or not acted on after referral.
Checked and unchanged
- AS 18.65.220, 18.65.242, 18.65.245, and 18.65.248 (council powers, corrections standards, denial, and revocation): no 2023–2026 amendment found. HB 66 of 2024 and HB 239 of 2026 refer to AS 18.65 only in definitions or cross-references.
- 13 AAC 85.010, 85.090, 85.110, and 85.210 (hiring standards, personnel reports, revocation, corrections standards): the current text matches the standards described here. The state’s Online Public Notices archive could not be paged through by machine, so other 2023–2026 APSC filings cannot be fully ruled out; the only one found is the certificate-levels package effective January 19, 2025.
- Use of force and duty to intervene: no Alaska statute or APSC regulation found; SB 23 and SB 42 were not enacted.
- Not counted: SB 103 (2024, peer support counseling) cross-references AS 18.65.290 for the confidentiality of first-responder peer support. It does not change certification or misconduct records.
Last updated October 20, 2026Source: United States Council for Law & InvestigationCite as: United States Council for Law & Investigation, “Alaska officer certification: Officer Ledger,” uscli.org/officer-certification-tracker/alaska (last updated October 20, 2026). Text licensed CC BY 4.0.