Dean Cavanaugh is graduating from the Public Safety Academy in Sitka this Friday. He’ll be the village public safety officer in the village of Kake. (Courtesy Photo | Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska)

Dean Cavanaugh is graduating from the Public Safety Academy in Sitka this Friday. He’ll be the village public safety officer in the village of Kake. (Courtesy Photo | Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska)

Kake to have a law enforcement presence again

Dean Cavanaugh is first public safety officer in village in two years

For the first time in about two years, Kake has a village public safety officer.

Dean Cavanaugh, originally from Kake, is graduating from the Public Safety Training Academy in Sitka on Friday. Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska (CCTHITA) has coordinated the VPSO program in Southeast since 2010, and according to a CCTHITA press release in April, Cavanaugh is the first VPSO in Kake in nearly two years.

“Recruitment and retention have been a great challenge not only for Tlingit & Haida, but for the VPSO program as a whole,” CCTHITA Public Safety Manager Jason Wilson said in the release. “The Kake VPSO position has been vacant for almost two years and we are happy to have it finally filled, especially by a tribal citizen.”

Cavanaugh is of the Eagle Moiety and Was’ineidi clan, according to the CCTHITA release in April. His Tlingit name is Shakéutgee, and his family comes from Kake and Hydaburg. He was raised in Kake and graduated from Kake High School in 2007. After living in Anchorage for nine years, he decided to move back to Kake with his fiancé Tauni Minelli and his two young sons, Noah and Lucas.

The state established the VPSO program in the 1970s to have first responders in rural Alaska communities that are too small to have a police department. VPSOs are trained in search and rescue, fire protection, emergency medical assistance, crime prevention and basic law enforcement.

Tragedies in small towns prove difficult to solve. In Kake last August, 19-year-old Jade Williams died in what Alaska State Troopers called suspicious circumstances. A year later, the case remains unsolved.

CCTHITA President Richard (Chalye Éesh) Peterson said in the April release that it’s vital for residents in these remote villages to have someone looking out for them.

“Our Southeast Alaska communities have experienced first-hand how much a community can suffer and be impacted when there is a lack of public safety services available,” Peterson said in the release. “I never want to see our Southeast communities without the essential services of public safety and am committed to working with the State of Alaska on pursuing possibilities of compacting Public Safety.”

Kake has been approved for a second VPSO position as well, according to the April release. The job opening is still listed on the CCTHITA website.

Cavanaugh is one of 37 graduates, according to a release from the Department of Public Safety on Thursday. The graduation ceremony takes place at 1 p.m. Friday and will be live streamed on the Alaska State Troopers Facebook page.


• Contact reporter Alex McCarthy at 523-2271 or amccarthy@juneauempire.com. Follow him on Twitter at @akmccarthy.


More in Home

Two flags with pro-life themes, including the lower one added this week to one that’s been up for more than a year, fly along with the U.S. and Alaska state flags at the Governor’s House on Tuesday. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Doublespeak: Dunleavy adds second flag proclaiming pro-life allegiance at Governor’s House

First flag that’s been up for more than a year joined by second, more declarative banner.

Juneau Assembly Member Maureen Hall (left) and Mayor Beth Weldon (center) talk to residents during a break in an Assembly meeting Monday, Feb. 3, 2025, about the establishment of a Local Improvement District that would require homeowners in the area to pay nearly $6,300 each for barriers to protect against glacial outburst floods. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Flood district plan charging property owners nearly $6,300 each gets unanimous OK from Assembly

117 objections filed for 466 properties in Mendenhall Valley deemed vulnerable to glacial floods.

Students play trumpets at the first annual Jazz Fest in 2024. (Photo courtesy of Sandy Fortier)
Join the second annual Juneau Jazz Fest to beat the winter blues

Four-day music festival brings education of students and Southeast community together.

Frank Richards, president of the Alaska Gasline Development Corp., speaks at a Jan. 6, 2025, news conference held in Anchorage by Gov. Mike Dunleavy. Dunleavy and Randy Ruaro, executive director of the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, are standing behind RIchards. (Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
For fourth consecutive year, gas pipeline boss is Alaska’s top-paid public executive

Sen. Bert Stedman, R-Sitka, had the highest compensation among state legislators after all got pay hike.

State Rep. Rebecca Himschoot (right), I-Sitka, answers a question from Rep. Jubilee Underwood (right), R-Wasilla, about a bill increasing per-pupil public school funding during a House Education Committee meeting on Monday. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Legislators and governor form working group seeking quick education funding and policy package

Small bipartisan group plans to spend up to two weeks on plan as related bills are put on hold.

Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Nordic Ski Team and community cross-country skiers start the Shaky Shakeout Invitational six-kilometer freestyle mass start race Saturday at Eaglecrest Ski Area. (Klas Stolpe / Juneau Empire)
Crimson Bears cross-country skiers in sync

JDHS Nordic Ski Team tunes up for state with practice race

Thunder Mountain Middle School eighth grader Carter Day of the Blue Barracuda Bombers attempts to pin classmate John Croasman of War Hawks White during the inaugural Thunder Mountain Mayhem Team Duels wrestling tournament Saturday at TMMS. (Klas Stolpe / Juneau Empire)
Inaugural Thunder Mountain Mayhem Tournament makes most of weather misfortune

More than 50 Falcons wrestlers compete amongst themselves after trip to Sitka tourney nixed.

The roundabout at the intersection of Mendenhall Loop Road and Stephen Richards Memorial Drive on Monday morning after it was reopened following a shooting between two men in vehicles shortly after midnight. (Laurie Craig / Juneau Empire)
Motorist fatally shoots driver he says was threatening him with a gun at Mendenhall Valley roundabout

Shooter released after initial JPD investigation; 16-year-old victim had pellet/BB-style CO2 rifle

University of Alaska President Pat Pitney gives the State of the University address in Juneau on Jan. 30, 2025. She highlighted the wide variety of educational and vocational programs as creating opportunities for students, and for industries to invest in workforce development and the future of Alaska’s economy. (Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)
University of Alaska president highlights impact on workforce, research and economy in address

Pat Pitney also warns “headwinds” are coming with federal executive orders and potential budget cuts.

Most Read