Law enforcement battled it out in the West Desert Wednesday to see who would claim the title of Tooele County Top Shot.
The event, hosted by Dugway Police as part of their celebration of National Police Week, pitted two members from each of six local departments — Dugway Police, Dugway Security Forces, Grantsville Police Department, Hill Air Force Base, Tooele City Police Department and Tooele County Sheriff’s Office — against the other cops in a three-weapon shooting course.
“We try to center this event around that week, and it allows the law enforcement within Tooele County to get together and have some fun and actually get some training value out of this,” said Dugway Police Chief Phil Fishbeck. “We work together day to day, but just to sit down and relax and get to talk, I think the guys really like that part.”
In the course, officers had to run from a parked police vehicle to a door about 50 meters away, which they had to break through with a battering ram, and shoot a series of targets with a pistol. Officers than ran around a wall and picked up a rifle, which they shot through a “window” at another series of targets, for which they were allowed one reload. Just past the window was a shotgun, which officers had to load and then knock down six metal disks and a silhouette target.
Officers then had to drag a dummy about 10 meters, then take cover behind a wall and shoot left-handed at a series of targets with a pistol. They had to run up a set of stairs and back down again for a reload, and then shoot at a similar series of targets right-handed on the other end of the wall.
After another dash up the stairs, officers brought down another loaded magazine and a math book for the final challenge: To solve a series of simple math problems, run up range and then shoot at numbered targets to indicate the answers to the problems.
When they had solved all problems correctly and shot the each of the corresponding targets, officers made a final 50-meter sprint to the finish.
The dozen competing officers were allowed to go through the course twice, and totals were taken from the best of the two runs. A total of 76 points were available for the course, with points being docked for hitting incorrect targets.
During the first run, most officers took from nine to 16 minutes to complete the course, said Dugway Police Chief Phil Fishbeck. During the second round the times ranged from seven and a half minutes to 12 minutes.
Fishbeck said although the separate parts of the challenge are routine training exercises, doing them in a string was something new, and, for many, challenging.
“We usually do these in segments, not as one continuous loop. We knew there was going to be a learning curve,” Fishbeck said. “Once they got the jitters out, during the second round, it went a lot more smoothly.”
This year’s winner was Officer Joshua Greenhalgh of Dugway Police Department, who won a Glock .45 pistol with a time of 7.01. Sgt. Jared Noland of Hill Air Force Base, who came in second place with a time of 7:20, and Officer Delbert McQuiddy from Dugway Security Forces, who took third with a time of 7:34, won reactive targets.
Investigator James Dekanich of the Dugway Police Department rounded out fourth place with a time of 7:41. Awards were given to other participating officers, including ammunition, clothing and other gear, Fishbeck said.
The competition differed from last year’s format, when officers competed in an elimination-style contest using only a pistol. Fishbeck said the changes were made in reaction to what officers said about the previous format.
“We took the feedback from last year. Every year we ask the guys what we can do better,” Fishbeck said. “They didn’t like the elimination part of it; they drove all the way out here and didn’t want to be done after the first round. This way it gives everybody an opportunity to shoot.”
He added, “I think this was an added training value to give everyone the chance to go through and get as good of a score as they could.”