Manhunt training helps officers get the bad guys

You think you see something in the woods moving around, but aren't sure. Then out of nowhere pops out a sheriff's deputy who had been hiding, cloaked in camouflage fatigues and face paint.

This is the kind of training that Henderson County Sheriff's deputies and eight other agencies from across North Carolina recently received during Semper Fi International Inc. Manhunt N.C. 2008 training hosted by Blue Ridge Community College.

The training took place at Blue Star Camp in Hendersonville.

Randy Stepp, who taught tracking and sign cutting, said the school teaches law enforcement officers to apprehend fugitives in rugged terrain.

"We have set up scenarios on how to catch someone who is fleeing," Stepp said.

The school started in the 1980s and has helped trained agencies all over the United States, Stepp said.

The training took place over five days and covered man tracking, rural patrol techniques, improvised explosive devices, concealment and camouflage, counter ambush techniques and rural fugitive apprehension, among other lessons.

"We have had agencies call to thank us in the past for the training they received," Stepp said. "This kind of training has helped solve many crimes."

Dan Miller, who runs the training company, said the manhunt techniques simulated in Henderson County were based on a similar fugitive search in 1987.

This is the first time the training course has been back in North Carolina since 1992, Miller said.

Capt. Charlie McDonald with the Henderson County Sheriff's Office taught classes on camouflage.

"We have teams running camouflage exercises," he said. "We have also pre-positioned objects throughout the woods to teach the officers to look for things first with the naked eye then using binoculars."

Lt. Jason Swaim said this was the first time he and other deputies from the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office have received such training.

"We have learned what to look for and to pay attention to detail," he said. "It has helped us brush up on our land navigation techniques also. This kind of training truly adds to our current capabilities."