HAVEN’T WE SEEN THAT BEAR SOMEWHERE BEFORE?
This week, the Alaska Department of Public Safety unveiled a new logo and a new slogan for the Alaska State Troopers, in the hopes the marketing effort will help recruit more men and women to put on the uniform.
The logo and slogan were unveiled at the Alaska State Fair on Thursday: A bear’s face is the logo and “Guardians of the 49th” is the new slogan.
In February, the department worked with a local advertising agency to rebrand the department’s recruiting materials. The department has not announced how much it has spent on the rebranding effort.
The new brand will show up on the Troopers’ recruitment car, website and advertisements. A newly wrapped patrol car and recruitment car debuted at the fair.
“State Troopers are proud of the heritage of this organization, and the integrity and skills required to be a sworn officer in this institution,” Colonel Hans Brinke said in a press release. “The updated branding better reflects who we are, what we do, and emphasizes the pride and integrity of our sworn officers. We are Alaska State Troopers, Guardians of the 49th.”
A team of Troopers provided feedback, insight, and opinions from the inception of the project back in February up through final design. The new design and associated contracting were funded through the fiscal year 2018 budget that was allocated within the Department of Public Safety to the Recruitment Office.
“Recruitment and retention remain a priority of the Department of Public Safety,” Commissioner Walt Monegan said. “The updated and refreshed branding will allow us to better reach new generations of Alaskans with the exciting opportunities of being a State Trooper.”
Earlier this year, of the 382 authorized positions, 45 were vacant. In 2017, of 296 authorized positions, 26 were vacant.
The Trooper badge is not going away, the department has said. Alaska State Troopers and Alaska Wildlife Troopers will still retain the image and State seal for official communications.
The new logo and slogan are simply the public-facing brand for marketing purposes.
Some members on a closed Facebook group called “Alaska Blue and Brown” say the bear’s image is pirated from the brand of a video game channel on YouTube called Titan Bear Gaming. The comments on that Facebook group were more than 250 against the new look, with just one in favor of it; many said that the old motto “Loyalty, Integrity and Courage” is the heritage that Troopers have lived and died by, and is not improved by the new motto, “Guardians of the 49th.”
The Titan Bear Gaming logo and the new Troopers logo are shown here:
I’m sorry but the Troopers and the State were robbed blind by “a local advertising agency to rebrand the department’s recruiting materials” It looks like something that would be seen on a Saturday morning cartoon or latest eco-warrior cartoon fantasy. Very unprofessional appearance but I guess they expect the perps to be laughing themselves silly that they won’t run.
NO! This looks like a Security Company vehicle. The Troopers need to get rid of this new logo and demand our money back. Col. Brinke is wrong. Stick with the old logo and Loyalty, Integrity and Courage. Perhaps AST needs to be reeducated in the meaning of the words.
This is nonsense and a slap in the face of history, tradition and pride. The bear is a rip-off of a video game. The slogan about being a Guardians is reminiscent of the movie Guardians of the Galaxy. Paying an ad agency to design a Marvel comic book logo and plagiarize a movie and a video game is a new low. The Commissioner of Public Safety and the Director of Alaska State Troopers should slink off to a dark safe place and quit trying to destroy tradition, pride, and honor. They dishonor the memory of those Troopers who have died in service to Alaska. Shame on you both.
Thank you for your service, Sgt. Cole and well said.
Ha! What a bunch of clowns! The Troopers got conned and now look stupid. A 30 second Google search would have revealed the scam but they can’t even figure out how to do that. How do you expect the Troopers to solve crime when they are this stupid! A video game logo? What a bunch of nerds. Go home losers. Why don’t you just let APD take over, you will see how real police work is done.
Loyalty, Integrity, Courage are much more than a motto – they are the core values of AST and define our culture. We used to recruit people who shared those values. This only diminishes a proud tradition that we lived and worked by, and too many died by.
Well said. Thanks Col. Grimes.
Loyalty, Integrity, Courage are much more than a motto – they are the core values of AST and define our culture. We used to recruit people who shared those values. This diminishes a proud tradition that we lived and worked by, and too many died by.
Julie, you were always class personified. Your comments are spot on.
Loyalty, Integrity and Courage is a long standing and proud motto of a once very cohesive and proud law enforcement agency. Sad to see 77 yrs of history replaced by a video game cover and serial comic book slogan.
To the current DPS administration, please rethink this whole change for change sake.
The dark blue and gold patrol car with the Bear on the side looks it just rolled thru the main gate of the joint bases as an Military Police Vehicle .
Thankfully only on 2 vehicles that have been converted or as we’re told.
Respectively submitted,
Captain Joe DeTemple
Alaska State Troopers Retired
I don’t know where the idea came about that we need to put a motto on a law enforcement vehicle. My father was an Alaska Territorial Police Officer and an Alaska State Police Officer. Both before any mottos.
The individual is the representative of the organization and no motto will ever eclipse the individual’s commitment to duty and to the people of Alaska. The TP and ASP served at $438 per month, without benefits, without overtime. Today’s AST personnel have grand benefits, body armor, and unions.
The new logo is indeed a rip off of the gaming company’s logo and somewhat unprofessional. It does look more like a security company logo and motto than that of the Alaska State Troopers, the successor to the TP and the ASP. The AST needs to go back to the previous image.
The reality is, the problem is not image, money or benefits. The problem with recruitment is qualified recruits. If people are not qualified for the military, they are not qualified to be police officers.
Nationally, 71%-75% of those 17-24 are ineligible for military service, because of physical, education or criminal records disqualifications. In Alaska, in the Bush >99% of those 17-34 are ineligible for military service because of criminal and educational records disqualifications. Is it any wonder that our AST are having trouble meeting recruiting goals?
Democrat policies have compromised our education system–Alaska is rated 46th out of 50 states. The stats cited for the Bush population demonstrate a crisis in family that is resulting in disrespect for the law and education–where else is this seen? Any liberal inner city. Abortion, the breakdown of the family, and the acquiescence of our Republican elected officials in letting the Dems have a free hand in the Bush and our schools has led us to this place. Hard to recruit when there is no one to recruit that is interested. Kind of like the post RVN military with its comic book instructions on how to use weapons.
Please vote for Mike Dunleavy for Governor and begin to rectify this huge problem . . . and to restore the image of the AST.
The bear’s expression looks too mean… and I agree with the Troopers’ comments above. Pirated cartoon not withstanding, this will not help anything, and is a needless expense.
The bear’s expression looks too mean… and I agree with the Troopers’ comments above. Pirated cartoon not withstanding, this will not help anything, and is a needless expense of money, and will accomplish nothing.
The top brass of the Troopers think that changing a patrol car emblem from one long identified with the State Troopers to one that looks like it was lifted from an internet gaming group will increase recruitment and retention. The new bear emblem looks like it came right out of a comic book. The new motto “Guardians of the 49th” replaces “Loyalty, Integrity, Courage”. I want a Trooper coming to assist me that has the latter core values; don’t send a “Guardian”; might need one of them when I check into a rest home. So, if you want to recruit new personnel, offer competitive wages and benefits compared to the other major law enforcement agencies. The path the current leadership has chosen will insure fewer top applicants and demoralize the ones that remain. I had the honor of being a State Trooper for 21 years; this current action by the Commissioner is reprehensible to all that serve now and previously. For those that are presently serving; remain strong—-this too will pass.
No logo or ‘marketing motto’ is going to improve recruitment and retention in the AST until this state quits screwing around and restores a realistic and competitive wage & benefits package – including the defined benefit pension system.
Gov. Hickel helped to establish the AST by creating a motto, emblem, uniform, and compensation package equal to the importance of each trooper to every Alaskan.
We don’t need marketing. We need to compensate our troopers to the level of their true value and leave the silly advertising to the ‘Wild about Alaska Seafood’ people.
Restore these things to their previous glory before everyday Alaskans begin confusing AST cruisers with pizza delivery vehicles.
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