FPD Community Involvement
Members of the Fairbanks Police Department are proud to be members of the Fairbanks community. In addition to serving and protecting the citizens of Fairbanks our personnel are also deeply invested in the town they call home. Officers and employees participate in a wide variety of activities in the community. Many are members of local churches, civic groups, coach youth teams, participate in team sports, and enjoy the wonders that our Alaskan locale provide, to name a small part of what they contribute.
Our Department is pleased that we are able to participate in the following events as an organization as well as many others;
Every Halloween local, state and federal police agencies team up in the Fairbanks area to hand out glow sticks to youngsters. This popular event, created by the Fairbanks Police Department, dubbed Operation GLOW (Guiding Little Ones on their Way), is intended to keep young Trick-or-Treaters safe by handing out various colored glow sticks attached to custom made lanyards. The lanyards show the names and logos of the participating agencies, including the Alaska State Troopers, Fairbanks Police, North Pole Police, Fort Wainwright Police and Alaska Railroad. The idea is to increase the visibility of small ones for motorists and others.
During the festive Christmas season officers with the Fairbanks Police Department coordinate the Shop with a Cop program benefiting children in the Fairbanks area. Every year local kids, nominated by school counselors, ride to Fred Meyer in a police car and use a $100 gift card to buy gifts for their families.
Each participating police officer teams up with a child and becomes their helper for the evening. The children are all elementary school age, up to sixth grade. After shopping, the children and their officer wrap all their purchases for Christmas giving and each family receives a boxed Christmas dinner to take home for the holiday.
Each year officers from the Fairbanks Police Department, Alaska State Troopers, University of Alaska Fairbanks Police Department, Fairbanks International Airport Police and North Pole Police Department participate in the event.
The special holiday program has been made possible through the years by the Langston Family Foundation, Fred Meyer, the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, the counseling department of Lathrop High School, Odom Corporation, Mt. McKinley Animal Hospital and North Pole Coffee Roasting Company.
Each year FPD has a Thanksgiving Food Drive at Costco to collect dinner items for the Fairbanks Community Food Bank. In 2022 alone, the FPD food drive collected over 23,000 pounds of food for families in need!
Youth Safety Day is a community event that the Midnight Sun Council, Boy Scouts of America (BSA) sponsors along with Spirit of Alaska FCU, the Girl Scouts and Volunteers in Policing and other community agencies. The Fairbanks Police Department participates each year, with static displays of police equipment, K9 demonstrations and interactions with officers.
Every summer law enforcement officers and their families from the Fairbanks Police Department team up with Special Olympics athletes, volunteers, families and supporters to raise money to support Special Olympics programs in the Tanana Valley.
Every year athletes, law enforcement officers, community members and Special Olympics supporters participate in the Law Enforcement Torch Run at the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus. They join communities throughout the state for the annual fundraiser for Special Olympics Alaska.
The 5-kilometer family fun run and pledge drive annually attracts more than 100 volunteers and participants, including more than 40 employees and family members from local law enforcement agencies. Community volunteers, including teams from Wells Fargo and the Knights of Columbus, help with run and picnic logistics.
In 2018 the event raised $6,000 to support Special Olympics in the Tanana Valley, which offers sports training and competition programming for people with intellectual disabilities.
