Governor’s budget plan calls for statewide drug prosecutor

KETCHIKAN, Alaska (AP) – Gov. Bill Walker’s budget proposal for fiscal year 2019 calls for adding a statewide drug prosecutor in Alaska.

The Ketchikan Daily News reported Friday that the governor’s office says the position is part of the Public Safety Action Plan, which was created to address the state’s rise in crime and opioid use.

John Skidmore, director of the criminal division of the Alaska Department of Law, said the job would allow the state to focus more energy on cracking down on the larger, wide-scale drug trafficking cases across the state.

Skidmore says it makes sense for one person to have the intelligence of multiple law enforcement agencies because the flow of narcotics doesn’t impact just one community.

He says the position would also alleviate the large caseload some prosecutors have.

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