After a call from the public for details and talks of a private investigation into her behavior Gov. Sarah has announced a new direction for the Department of Public Safety.

The announcement comes after the dismissal of a commissioner who says he was fired because he would not fire a trooper involved in a custody battle with the governor’s sister.

Palin continues to deny the allegations. She says she doesn’t see any reason for a private investigation because she’s says she’s already openly answering all the questions.

When Palin terminated former Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan a week ago, she said she wanted to take the department in a new direction.

This weekend she outlined that new direction. It calls for an increased focus on recruiting returning members of the National Guard and new initiatives to control alcohol and related problems.

“Alaskans deserve to know where we’re going,” Palin said.

After hearing the highlights of Palin’s new plan many are asking what’s really new about the “new direction.”

Lauren Rice worked as the legislative liaison for the Department of Public Safety under Walt Monegan for a year and a half.

“All of those proposals are worthy, but none of them are new,” she said.

The new plan calls for legislation to slow the flow of alcohol to rural Alaska.

Rice says that’s not a new idea.

“There was a piece of legislation that went through last year that increased the sentences for bootlegging that came from a trooper in Bethel, so we had that passed,” she said. “The year before (Monegan) was part of a bill that essentially created a database for the (Alcohol Beverage Control) Board to track written orders of alcohol into rural Alaska.”

Palin also wants more recruitment and training.

“There are national guardsmen coming home from deployment who are looking for jobs, we want to be able to have a mutually beneficial relationship with these public servants in the National Guard,” she said.

But a look at one of Monegan’s plans, the State Troopers’ Strategic Compass, has some of the same priorities.

“The Alaska State Troopers have been recruiting with military bases for years,” Rice said. “It’s been a practice that has a long history.”

Monegan explained in his plan that budget cuts forced him to do more with less. Gov. Palin asked public safety to cut $2.3 million, Rice said.

The governor’s office insists it’s a new direction that will include creative and more resourceful ways of doing things along with follow through and a shift in management focus.