Juneau Police Chief Ed Mercer is retiring this week after three decades in law enforcement in Southeast Alaska.
Mercer was born and raised in Sitka, and he started his career as a police officer there. He’s worked for the Juneau Police Department since coming to town in 2000, and he’s led the department for the last six years.
Mercer is Lingít of the Raven Coho clan. He was Juneau’s first Alaska Native police chief and received an award last year from the Alaska Federation of Natives for public service. His time in charge saw the department through major shifts in technology and the national and local conversation around policing, as well as a global pandemic.
Deputy Chief David Campbell will serve as interim police chief until the next permanent chief is selected.
KTOO’s Adelyn Baxter spoke with Chief Mercer about his upcoming retirement. He says one of the biggest changes over his career is that it’s getting harder and harder to find people who want to do police work.
This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.
Ed Mercer: It’s very hard to find the people to want to go into law enforcement and then go out and do the job. It is a tough job. But it’s a very rewarding job. I mean, you have to look for those small little, little things that are rewarding in the career, as far as it goes. So there’s one thing that I I feel that is surprising in today’s day and age.
I think working criminal cases can be very complex – they’ve always been. And you know, I think we’ve tried different things in our state, like criminal reform, on dealing with societal issues and not just necessarily looking at putting people in jail as a means of fixing a problem. It just doesn’t go away. That made being a police officer and working cases and having habitual offenders repeat offend and continue to be out in the street. And then you have to contend with the victim in the case, and they’re the ones like going “Well, where do I go with all this? I feel like I was victimized.” And so we have seen different ideas and philosophies when it comes to how we police and what works. And I think we’re still working through that.
A lot of education out there, I mean, we’re looking at a lot of mental health issues that we have to deal with, and maybe tackling that in a different way. CBJ and the city has done a really good job in regards to trying to provide programs and services, partnering with our homeless, Glory Hall and a cold weather shelter and all the different types of things that try to provide services the best we can to help people get back on their feet to go, go on their way, and hopefully get out of what they’re they’re doing. So just a few things that I didn’t ever think I would see in my career.
And I saw that and … I never thought I’d ever have to work through a pandemic. And how that really was challenging for me. If you think about it, people were pulling back and staying in their homes. Well the police couldn’t do that – they had to be out there on the street, they had to be out there serving the public for calls for service. Nothing really changed in that arena. And things got challenging. I mean, people look out for their own well being and having your officers go out there and be the frontline and provide the service. I’m happy to say that we did it. And we did it like we were not in a pandemic. And we just tried to put precautionary things in place to protect our staff while they’re out there.
Adelyn Baxter: You brought up staffing and, obviously, that’s been a big challenge for police departments throughout Alaska and the country. But one of your staff was on Juneau Afternoon recently, and they brought up kind of a unique thing that I hadn’t thought about before. Which is the fact that officers in Juneau live and work in their community. And that’s not always the case in other communities around the country. How do you think it sort of impacts the way that policing happens in Juneau?
Ed Mercer: I think it’s for the better, because you would, regardless, if you’re a police officer working at the police department, you’re part of the community. Your children go to those same schools, you go to the same setting, some of the same functions within the community, you engage in the community in that fashion. So you’re part of the community as opposed to going into a community and policing and then leaving, where you really don’t have that connectivity.
And you’re absolutely right — I mean, throughout my whole law enforcement career, growing up in Sitka becoming a police officer there, and then having to help police that community with the people I grew up with. That was a little tricky, a little awkward initially. But I think you build trust and rapport with the people you serve. And they, you know, they get a little bit better over time. And I think that’s what the community in Juneau gets when you have a Juneau police officer show up to your door or you call and ask for their assistance, or you just see them out in the public.
I always say that, you know, we police our community different than other communities. We have a lot more patience with our citizens and trying to listen to and be part of a solution to the problem as opposed to just “Well, I’m just going on another call for service, moving on, then I’m gonna go home and I’m gonna I’m going to be part of this community.”
Adelyn Baxter: Also, on the topic of recruitment, you were Juneau’s first Alaska Native chief of police, and probably one of the first in the state. And I wonder if you’ve noticed changes in terms of the recruitment and how that is reflected in the makeup of police forces in Juneau, and other parts of the state — more Alaska Native and Indigenous officers — and how that can lead to better policing overall?
Ed Mercer: Always trying to find people of all different races to come into the police department is a good thing, as far as it goes. At one time, I think we had upwards of five Alaska Natives with stateside Indian on the police force. Several of them retired, including myself coming up. So I think that’s an area that we need to continue to strive for, and try to solicit. We need women police officers to go out and do the job as well. I know we were above the national average when it came to that. And I think it’s important for us to try to get diversity within our police department so that, you know, you relate to the community in which you are out there serving and whatnot. But it’s a big challenge. It’s not a thing that’s going to be easy. I think you have to break barriers and stereotypes, as far as what a police officer looks like. And I hope that, you know, myself and other minority officers are doing that, so that people and young minds can look at that and go, “Maybe that’s something I can do,” and then be that role model in that, in that way.
Adelyn Baxter: What is most important for whoever replaces you to keep in mind when taking over the helm of the Juneau Police Department?
Ed Mercer: You know, we did a lot of good things at this agency. And I don’t take credit for it all. But you need somebody who’s going to be progressive in their thinking, as far as trying to stay ahead of things. I was very proud, especially when we went through the very controversial George Floyd incident. A lot of the demands that was asked of the Juneau Police Department, we already had those things put in place. We had body worn cameras, we had use-of-force reporting. We were able to articulate what we’re doing out there on a daily basis and provide that data to the public so that we could have reassurance in our trust that we are doing the right thing and whatnot. So having somebody that is always forward thinking.
And what I’ve learned is, I can’t do it myself, I rely heavily on my staff, my command staff, my frontline supervisors, all the supervisors in the department, my line staff, my support staff to go out and do the job every single day. Have patience with them, you know, they do a tough job. And, you know, if it’s not them, it’s gonna be somebody else doing it. So having a leader – the next chief in office – that understands the community, understands Alaska and our regions and whatnot is going to be very valuable, not to say you can’t learn that.
And be engaged. You know, I’m a pretty reserved person. And, you know, I had to come out of my shell in so many different ways to engage with different groups. But sit at the table with them and have conversations when it especially is needed, or even beforehand. So having that community engagement is very important.
