Retired state police motor officer Tom Seeley observes CCSO motor deputy Wayne Wheeler recently in Carson City.
Battleborn pride is the name of the game at this year’s Extreme Motor Officer Training Challenge in Carson City.
Carson City Sheriff’s Office will be hosting its 15th annual Extreme Motor Officer Training Challenge, a three-day event, from June 21 to June 23, that brings motor officers from around the country to Carson City to compete, train and bond.
Dozens of law enforcement agents will descend on Carson City to compete in a variety of courses testing different skills they will need to be successful as motor officers.
Each year, the Carson City team produces a new theme to base the competition on and this year it chose to honor the 36th state.
“We base it all on a theme then come up with a pattern that matches,” said Motor Deputy Joey Trotter. “We have a big list of patterns we can do, then from there determine what is the best match and what has the best training we can get out of it.”
Nearly 2,000 cones will be used in Mills Park to make up the course the officers will have to compete on. Trotter said that each section of the main course will have something to do with Nevada.
In total it takes about a day and a half for them to build the course, and they start the preparations in January.
Trotter said one of the difficulties of creating your own course is to make sure it’s both simple and effective so the riders are tested but also have fun.
“We simplified it this year to make it less stressful because our feedback from last year was that it was too much,” Trotter said.
But to make sure the course is up to par, the five men have to design and then physically test out and redesign the course several times to make sure turns aren’t too tight, skills are tested and make sure riders can actually get through it.
“Once we design it, we test the course with our agency and another agency to get their opinion on it,” Trotter said. “Sometimes things look good on paper but once you ride it, it doesn’t make sense at all so it has to flow and be rideable.
“We hold ourselves to a high standard so we like having the course tight, but the goal is to improve riders and bring in more people and we can’t do that if the course is too difficult.”
He said it usually takes about three tries before they get the course right.
There will be five sections within the main course: the Battleborn star, the V&T Railroad, the shape of Nevada, the wreath on the logo and then a Comstock mine.
Trotter said each section has something different to teach the rider.
“The mine has long lanes to be quick and accurate but with proper braking, another has lots of transitions to simulate weaving through traffic or a crowd quickly, and another helps so if you get cut off or pushed off the road you can recover,” Trotter said. “It is things like that we do to simulate what the officers may come in contact with on a bike. Each has training value to it.”
There will be six events over the three days: the main course for time, a slow ride, 4-man barrel races, an obstacle course to simulate a crash scene, a 2-man tether and the Last Man Standing competition.
“The whole point of the event is to take the rider outside their skill level and improve them,” Trotter said.
Motor officers from across the state and country will be in Mills Park for the event, but for these officers it’s more than just a competition. The event is an opportunity for motor officers to learn and improve their riding skills through the activities.
“It is fun, it is a good time, but it is great training for the officers,” said Motors Sgt. Earl Mays. “Riding is a perishable skill, you love it but everything we do is perishable. So it is great training and a fun competition.”
Each section of the course is designed specifically to test the officer’s skills they’ll need while out on the road.
“People assume that we just do circles through cones, but it isn’t like that,” said Mays. “It is a training; it is being able to push the motorcycle and self and seeing the ability of the motorcycle and rider.”
For theses officers, riding a motorcycle for police purposes is vastly different than riding for recreation. The officers need to make sure their skills are top notch, proper and second nature so when an emergency or unexpected situations arise they’re able to react quickly and effectively.
“It is about the safety aspect, people think we do this to race but it’s not, we practice different patterns to simulate situations,” Mays said. “It is things like if something falls out of a truck in front of you on the freeway… everything we learn here is to get through our shifts successfully.”
In addition to the training, the competition helps the officers network to build new friendships and learn how other agencies operate their units.
“The camaraderie with other agencies is a benefit,” Mays said. “Other states and countries with different learning styles, patterns and aspects of riding are all here to learn from.”
Carson will have five deputies competing this year: Michael Jerauld, Kevin Cook, Joey Trotter, Gary Denham and Wayne Wheeler.
The unit is also asking the community for donations for a raffle, which helps offset the cost of putting on the competition.
“Any support is greatly appreciated,” Trotter said.
To help donate to the raffle, contact Sgt. Earl Mays at emays@carson.org.
The Motor Competition will be Thursday through Saturday starting at 8 a.m. each day in Mills Park.