Alaska State Troopers don't mess around.

Alaska is a different kind of place in many ways, not the least of which is law enforcement. In our Susitna Valley home, there is no local law enforcement. Some of the towns (Wasilla, Palmer) have municipal police departments, but out in the Borough, where we live, the only law enforcement are the Alaska State Troopers, who may require 30-45 minutes to respond to our location. Fortunately, most Alaskans are capable of handling things on their own; our per-capita gun ownership is among the highest in the nation (in the Valley, even the hippies have guns), and kicking in someone's door in the middle of the night in Alaska is one of the best ways I can think of to suddenly find oneself in possession of some new, unexpected bodily orifices.

When the Alaska State Troopers do get involved, though, they don't play around. Recent incidents with armed and belligerent suspects in Tok and Healy didn't end well for the bad guys.

On Monday, a man trying to break into a room at the Three Bears Motel ended up dead after brandishing an AK47-style weapon outside the building. An Alaska State Trooper shot him.

Timothy Thomas, a 21-year-old of Northway, was trying to break into the motel room and occupants, who knew him and were fearing for their lives, called 9-11. Troopers got the call at 2:30 a.m. and the man was recklessly brandishing the weapon when they arrived on scene. No other persons were injured during the incident.

On Wednesday, a male driver being pursued north of Healy by Troopers fired “multiple times” at the Troopers and others. Troopers fired back, striking the driver. The officers had used spike strips and other tactics to try to stop the man, later identified as Michael Grimes, 45, of Fairbanks. A female in the truck with Grimes, identified as Melody Perry, 42, of North Pole, was arrested for Misconduct Involving a Weapon III and taken to the Fairbanks Correctional Center.

I have no real problem with armed and belligerent criminals finding themselves suddenly pushing up daisies, and obviously, the Alaska State Troopers have no issues applying the required medicine.

Granted, police shootings can go badly wrong. Cops all over sometimes make bad shoots and are called to account on it — as they should be. And in Alaska, as in the lower 48, armed citizens also do some sterling work in deterring criminals.

Here's the kicker in these Alaska shootings:

Both of the deceased men have long court records indicating a history of illegal activity.

This begs the question, "What were they doing running around loose?" But the article and the Alaska State Troopers aren't offering any speculation on that score.

Alaska, like every place, has its share of bad actors. Alaska also has Constitutional Carry, Stand Your Ground, and Castle Doctrine laws. And Alaskans — at least outside of Juneau and the Anchorage bowl — are pretty self-reliant on almost everything. But, sure, there are bad actors, some of them potentially dangerous.

Now, there are two less, and to the Alaska State Troopers involved, I can only say this: "Good shooting!" And, this being the Last Frontier, it's likely there will be no whining from the victims' families about what good boys they were, or how they were "getting their lives together and planning for college." These two effed around and found out, and most Alaskans are OK with that.

It's true. Alaska is a different kind of place. That's why we love it.

Alaska is built different pic.twitter.com/ihDKPMpCPi

— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) October 30, 2023