Governor Mike Dunleavy held a press conference from the Kenai Chamber of Commerce and Visitors’ Center appointing Jim Cockrell as the Commissioner of Public Safety and will submit his name for confirmation to the Alaska Legislature immediately.
Dunleavy stated, “It’s all about moving forward. It’s all about incorporating new technologies, new ideas, new approaches and this is one of the reasons why. I’m nominating Mr. Jim Cockrell. Jim first signed up as a wildlife trooper in 1983. He served as both the Director of wildlife Troopers and AST, so there’s a bit of a breath of experience, here. Jim actually retired three times. Jim likes to work. We’re grateful that he’s coming back to help us and he always returns when duty calls. This is an example. He’s dedicated to protecting Alaskans. That’s obvious. That’s a fact. At this stage in the game, we think Jim is going to do a fantastic job.”
Jim Cockrell has served several assignments with the Alaska State Troopers and the Alaska wildlife Troopers, starting in 1983 and retiring as a Colonel in 2017. Most recently, he was working for Marathon at the Kenai refinery as their site security supervisor.
When asked about a previously proposed project, under the Department of Public Safety, to consolidate the 911 call centers under a former commissioner, Dunleavy said, “We’re working with all of the 911 outfits in the state of Alaska. We’re working with our telecoms who are working with various municipalities. What we’re going to do is we’re going to take a slower approach as we go through this process, but the goal eventually is to make sure that everyone has 911 service that they can call in. Under Jim, and that’s one of the discussions that he and I will have is look at the different issues affecting the department and 911 is going to be one of them. For this year, we’ve contracted with outfits, including down here on the Peninsula with the municipalities and we’re going to sit down and talk to those folks as well and see where we want to go and how we can go to making sure that we have a comprehensive 911 program for all Alaskans.”
Cockrell will be submitted to both the Alaska House and the Senate for confirmation today.
