This week, 15 recruits for the Alaska State Troopers and one Alaska Wildlife Trooper recruit hit the streets of several Alaska communities to begin their Field Training Evaluation Program (FTEP), according to a Wednesday release from the Department of Public Safety. Over the course of the program, which lasts about 13 weeks, the recruits will work with troopers in Fairbanks, Soldotna, Palmer and the Mat-Su Valley and develop the skills needed to perform law enforcement functions independently.

“For the past few years, the Alaska State and Wildlife Troopers have struggled with vacancies,” DPS Commissioner Amanda Price said in the press release. “We are extremely excited to welcome these 15 trooper recruits into FTEP and are eager for them to put what they learned at the academy to use as they serve Alaskans.”

Trooper recruits Jacob Barker, Trenton Harris and Alexander LeClair will be in Soldotna for their field training, while six recruits each went to Fairbanks and Mat-su. The Wildlife Trooper recruit will be stationed in Palmer.

To participate in the Field Training Evaluation Program, the recruits had to complete 16 weeks of basic training at the trooper academy in Sitka. The troopers then had an additional two weeks of training — known as Trooper Basic — before moving to their individual posts to received more specific training in areas such as fish and wildlife investigations, boating safety, survival, commercial fisheries enforcement, critical stress management, shotgun training and search and rescue.