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Maine Deputies To Compete in the 5.11 Challenge

MACHIAS, MAINE --- Two local law enforcement officers are the envy of their peers as they fly today to Montana for an all-expenses-paid week that culminates in an international firearms contest for police.Cpl. Rodney Merritt of the Washington County Sheriff's Department and Sgt. Jason "Jake" Scott, a Machias police officer and part-time deputy with the sheriff's office, are the lucky guys.

They are one of 32 pairs of officers selected from across North America to take part in the 5.11 Tactical Challenge, a competition sponsored by a number of law enforcement gear suppliers.

The teams will have time to practice shooting pistols, rifles and shotguns in advance of the contest. They also will enjoy plenty of gourmet food in a rugged lodge and fly-fishing in the Bighorn River.

Since the first week in January, the Web site www.511challenge.com has been announcing one team each week that gets flown to the Montana wilderness in July and August.

A keen shooter, Scott had discovered the opportunity through the Internet last year and asked Merritt if he'd sign up as a partner. They kept a watch on the Web site weekly until they learned in July that they were selected as the 30th of the 32 teams.

"We were getting to the end of the selections, so we thought we'd give it a shot again next year," Merritt said Wednesday. "But then our names came up and we got calls to book our flights."

Scott, 30, lives in Columbia Falls. Merritt, 44, lives in East Machias.

They are competing with the late Sidney Bridges in mind. Bridges, formerly of the sheriff's department, and his wife were killed in an automobile accident in February 1998.

Bridges had been the head firearms instructor for many years for the sheriff's department. He also had been one of the lead instructors for the Maine Criminal Justice Academy in Waterville.

"Sidney was my inspiration to work with other shooters," Merritt said. "I became an instructor because of him."

Merritt will be wearing Bridges' instructor pin from the state academy in honor of his mentor. It is on loan for the week thanks to the Bridges' son Ralph, who is a Maine Drug Enforcement Agency investigator out of Bangor, and their daughter, Winola Burke, one of the Washington County commissioners.

Merritt has worked with the sheriff's department for 16 years. Scott has six years in law enforcement, some as a diver. He works full time for the Machias police and part time for the sheriff's and Milbridge departments.

The two have been practicing their shooting at the Pleasant River Fish and Game Club in Columbia Falls. Glen "Boo" Endre and Zane Emerson, two local men who are avid skeetshooters, have been working with them as they prepare.

The trip isn't so much about winning, but about meeting officers from around the country and Canada. Many of the others selected, according to their profiles on the Web site, work for special-response teams in large cities.

"This isn't your average group of shooters," Merritt said.

Merritt and Scott may represent Down East Maine amid officers from Los Angeles, Chicago, New York and Toronto, but they plan on making their own contributions to the group.

"Just because they're from the big cities doesn't make them different from us," Merritt said. "Life is a little slower pace here, but that gives us personal relationships with the people. It's difficult to do that in the bigger departments."

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