Wildlife Trooper Kyle Freeberg and family moving south

The Freeberg family moved to Wrangell in April of 2019. Kyle Freeberg moved here to take a position as the town's state wildlife trooper. He has a total of three years of experience as a state trooper, the previous two spent in Fairbanks. His year as state trooper in Wrangell involved enforcing state laws, educating the public about important hunting and fishing regulations, and as he said in a July 2019 interview, working to increase collaboration between himself and the community. This chapter of the Freeberg's life has come to a close, however, as they are preparing to move south.

Freeberg announced in September that he quit his job as state trooper and planned to move down south. He also stated, again on Facebook, that they would be moving to Wisconsin sometime in October. Freeberg also shared a vlog, discussing preparations for the move, on Sept. 22.

"I just quit my job, I got three weeks left until I leave," he said in the vlog. "Moving down south to be by family. Don't have a job, don't have a place to live down there yet, so we'll see how it goes ... We knew Alaska was going to be a chapter of life, you know, just didn't know how long. We just decided it's come to an end. Ready to go back, ready to be closer to family."

Freeberg declined to comment for the paper directly, saying that anyone who had questions could reach out to him personally. Sgt. Cody Litster, state trooper in Petersburg, said he was told the Freeberg family just wanted to move south to be closer to family. For the foreseeable future, Wrangell will be without a state trooper.

Litster said that if there is business in Wrangell that requires a state trooper, the dispatch center in Ketchikan should be called at (907) 225-5118, and they will determine which trooper is closest to Wrangell at the time. He went on to explain that trooper positions are filled through a bidding process. While he had no specific timeframe, he said that the process for finding a new trooper for Wrangell is currently underway.

"Those positions are filled by internal bids," Litster said. "The bidding process is open."