See How ‘Alaska PD’ Deals With a Kodiak Brown Bear in Civilization (VIDEO)

Alaska PD deals with an area in which there’s about one bear for every four people, and as you can imagine, that could mean trouble.

A&E is celebrating the New Year with its new series that takes viewers to America’s Last Frontier to ride along with law enforcement officers battling one of the highest crime rates in the country, life-threatening weather conditions, and wild animals. It’s that last one that’s the focus of TV Insider’s exclusive sneak peek of Alaska PD.

“The Kodiak brown bear is the largest land mammal in Kodiak,” one of the officers explains. “It’s an excellent, adaptable, apex predator.”

They never set out to kill a bear, he continues, which is why you’ll see later in the clip that they look for the less lethal options for ammo.

Watch the preview above to see how these officers deal with bears in civilization.

This series will follow Alaska’s law enforcement in Fairbanks, Kodiak, Kotzebue, and Petersburg. In the clip above, chronically shorthanded police departments must turn to officers from the Lower 48 to fight a soaring crime rate, and it’s “trial by fire” for the newbies as they figure out that policing is different in Alaska.

Alaska PD, Series Premiere, Wednesday, January 1, 10/9c, A&E