The Division of Alaska State Troopers (AST) is the state police

State police

State police are a type of sub-national territorial police force, particularly in Australia and the United States. Some other countries have analogous police forces, such as the provincial police in some Canadian provinces, while in other places, the same responsibilities are held by national...

 agency

Government agency

A government or state agency is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, such as an intelligence agency. There is a notable variety of agency types...

 of Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

. It is a division of the Alaska Department of Public Safety

Alaska Department of Public Safety

The Alaska Department of Public Safety is a law enforcement agency with its usual focus being the protection of life, property and wildlife resources in the state of Alaska in the United States....

 (DPS). The Alaska State Troopers are a full service law enforcement agency and handle both traffic and criminal law enforcement. The Alaska State Troopers are also involved in apprehending fugitive

Fugitive

A fugitive is a person who is fleeing from custody, whether it be from private slavery, a government arrest, government or non-government questioning, vigilante violence, or outraged private individuals...

s as part of the Alaska Fugitive Task Force, an inter-agency collaborative of Alaska police departments that cooperates with police agencies throughout the United States and less commonly with Interpol

Interpol

Interpol, whose full name is the International Criminal Police Organization – INTERPOL, is an organization facilitating international police cooperation...

 in apprehending wanted men and women.

Unlike most state police agencies, AST is unique in that it performs duties unlike other similar agencies.