November 22, 2012 Shelton Mason County Journal | ![]() |
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By NATALIE JOHNSON
nattffiE~rnasoncounty.corn
After decades of training
troopers in the Washington
State Patrol (WSP), the 2.7-
mile track on Dayton Airport
Road in Shelton still enjoys
a reputation as one of the
best places to learn advanced
driving and law enforcement
skills.
Trooper and driving in-
structor Troy Metcalf said
WSP has one of the best law
enforcement driving pro-
grams in the nation.
'%Ve're very prideful of our
program," he said.
Metcalf has been a driv-
ing instructor for 12 of his 22
years with the state patrol.
In addition to four full-time
Emergency Vehicle Operation
Course (EVOC) instructors
permanently assigned to the
Shelton Academy, Metcalf,
normally based in King Coun-
ty, is one of two long-term
temporary instructors.
All state troopers learn
driving skills on the Shelton
track and law enforcement or-
ganizations from around the
state -- as well as the country
-- send their recruits to the
Mason County track to learn
from the best, on the best
track, Metcalf said.
In use since 1969, the
track includes sections to
train troopers to drive at high
speeds, a skills course and a
skid pan, which teaches driv-
ers to deal with standing wa-
ter, a vital skill particularly in
western Washington.
In the skid pan, cadets
learn to recover from skids
and hydroplaning, and to
drive both quickly and safely
in poor driving conditions.
This part of the track is de-
signed to teach cadets to "go
to the point of losing it," and
learn to recover the car, Met-
calf said.
"We're taking a car and
asking it to do things it really
doesn't want to do," he said.
In the skills course, cadets
Journal photo by Nata e Johnson
The new Chevrolet Caprice police car is outfitted with electronic
stability control, which helps it handle in wet conditions, such as the
skid pan at the track at the Washington State Patrol Academy on
Dayton Airport Road in Shelton.
Behind the byline pushing the car to its lira- you think to power out of a
its at speed and around ob- slide than it looks on TV.
Shelton-Mason County stacles, and turninga shade Later in the skills course,
Journal reporter Natalie greener with eve~ trip she learned that backing up
Johnson spent two hours through the skid pan, John- is not her strong suit, nor
Nov. 15 on the Washing- son got to take her own turn is parallel parking, and we
ton State Patrol track with be~d the wheel, hear she's sorry about kilt-
WSP driving instructor ~r a few trips of her ing all those traffic cones.
Trooper Troy Metcalf. own in the skid pan, she Thanks to the WSP for
After touring the track in learned firsthand that it's putting up with another jour-
the new Chevrolet Caprice ~ to do doughnuts in a 10o- nalist eager to burn rubber
police cruiser with Metcalf, lice car, bat it's harder than on the track.
have to navigate around cones patrol, but in its Aggressive the new Ford Police Intercep-
and park beth in drive and re- Driver Apprehension Pro- tor out of the water, Metcalf
verse, and parallel park beth gram (ADAP). Today, the said.
on the right and the left sides state patrol fleet has five The Caprice has Chevy's
of the road. To pass, recruits Chargers. "Stabilitrac" electronic stabil-
need to complete the course The Charger was an im- ity control, making it safe on
between 3 to 4 minutes with provement in some ways from dangerous road surfaces like
no errors, the old Crown Vic, Metcalf standing water or snow. It has
In the past, students were said, most notably because it sport shift and performance
taught usingthe current stan- had electronic stability con- modes, making the automatic
dard in police cars, the Ford trol, while the traditional transmission push the car's
Crown Victoria. However, Ford patrol car does not. 6-liter, 355-horsepower en-
Ford is discontinuing the car, However, less space inside gine to peak performance.
and the state patrol had sev- the car made it impractical for While the new cars have
eral choices on which car to the state patrol's entire fleet, advanced stability control and
transitionto. The new Chevrolet Ca- can therefore correct some
In 2006, the state patrol price, made only for law en- driving errors or behaviors,
began acquiring Dodge Char- forcement agencies, blows the instructors still teach recruits
gers for use, not in regular Charger, Crown Victoria, and basic principlesofdriving, such
more
By NATALIE JOHNSON
natalie@masoncounly.con~
Charles Sydney Long-
shore, 22, was sentenced
Monday in Mason County
Superior Court to more than
five years in prison on three
counts, felony harassment,
attempting to elude a police
officer and possesson of a
controlled substance.
Longshore was convicted
by a jury on July 23 for the
March 25 incident, in which
he was arrested on the 300
Block of Taylor Road by a
Shelton police officer.
Lonshore has an offender
score, a
number
used to cal-
culate his
sentence,
of 8, based
on prevous
convictions
of theft,
burglary,
Charles unlawful
Longshore possession
of a con-
trolled sub-
stance, harassment -- threat
to kill, assault in the third
degree and possession of a
stolen vehicle.
For count one, attempt-
ing to elude a police vehicle,
Longshore was sentenced to
34 months and 1 day, which
includes a sentencing en-
hancement of 12 months and
1 day for "endangering some-
one other than the pursuing
police officers or the defen-
dant during the course of at-
tempting to elude a pursuing
police vehicle."
For count two, felony ha-
rassment, he was sentenced
to 57 months, and for count
three, unlawful possession of
a controlled subtance, specifi-
cally methamphetamines, he
was sentenced to 24 months.
The sentences will run
concurrently, except for the
12 month and one day sen-
tencing enhancement. This
means Longshore will serve
69 months and 1 day, or
about 5 3/4 years in prison.
A motion from Longshore's
attorney, Brett Purtzer, ask-
ing for a new trial, was de-
nied, based on the fact that it
was not filed in time.
While out on $10,000 bail
for the March 25 incident,
Longshore was charged with
two counts of aggravated
murder in the first degree in
Authorities apprehend 1 sex
offender, still seeks another
By NATALIE JOHNSON
natalie~f'.masoncoun tv.com
One absconded sex of-
fender in Mason County
was apprehended in Shelton
Monday, while the second
remains on the run.
Mason County Sheriffs
deputies and officers from Michael
the Shelton Police Depart- Nicolas
ment worked together to
bring Michael Artemio Nico-
las into custody on Monday.
Nicolas has been classi-
fied as absconded for fail-
ing to meet his sex offender
registration requirements.
In October, the sheriffs of-
fice found that Nicolas had
actually not been living in
the house that he had regis- Izak
tered as his address for the Shackelford
last 7 years.
Police caught up with
him on a Mason Transit by and they pulled the bus
Authority bus in Shelton on over."
Monday. The officers saw Nicolas was previously
Nicolas inclassified as a level 1 sex
town, and offender after a May 2007
he ran conviction in Mason County
t h r o u g h Superior Court of two sex
a wooded crimes, rape of a child in the
area to get first degree and child mo-
away from lestation in the first degree.
them, said Due to his absconding, the
Detective sheriffs office now considers
Bill Adam him a level 3 sex offender.
with the The sheriffs office is still
M a s o n looking for another abscond-
C o u n t y ed level 3 sex offender, Izak
S h e r i ff' s Lee Shackelford, who has
Office. been classified as absconded
"T h e y since Nov. 1 for failing to
w a t c h e d follow his registration re-
where he quirements.
went," he Shackelford was origi-
said. "He nally required to register
p o p p e d as a level 1 sex offender af-
out of the ter a July 2007 conviction
w o o d s in Clark County Superior
when a Court for indecent liber-
bus was ties. Since he has absconded
c o m i n g from his registration re-
quirements, the sheriffs of-
fice has now classified him
as a level 3 sex offender.
as braking only in a straight
line and curve negotiation.
'~_is car will have a better
chance, if you make a mis-
take, of recovering," he said.
Over the next several years
the state patrol plans to tran-
sition entirely to the Caprice,
Metcalf said.
"Now, everyone's getting
trained on this car," he said.
Each patrol car lasts about
120,000 miles before it is re-
tired. That could be as little
as three to five years, Metcalf
said, depending on how far a
trooper has to drive each years.
The state patrol currently
has six Caprices, and plans to
replace their entire fleet with
the new cars. At first, only ex-
perienced troopers will get a
new car, while a new trooper
will get a gently used Crown
Victoria.
"We're not going to issue a
brand new trooper going on
on the streets a brand new
Caprice," Metcalf said.
The test track isn't only
about driving fast, accurately
or in bad weather, Metcalf
said. It also serves as a loca-
tion to practice offender stops,
and techniques for stopping a
car in a pursuit.
The ~rack also has a set of
cars for Pursuit Immobiliza-
tion Technique (PIT) train-
ing. These are older, retired
Crown Victorias outfitted
with metal bumpers. Troop-
ers learn with these cars how
to, not ram, but push another
car in order to stop a fleeing
offender, Metcalf said.
In addition to patrol and
training cars, the state patrol
track also has several donated
non-police cars for training for
traffic stops and accident re-
construction.
''We use these type of cars
-- it makes it more realistic,"
Metcalf said. "We try to make
it as realistic as possible."
Though the 108 hours of in-
struction for all state troopers
readies them to navigate im-
pediments, bad weather, and
make dangerous stops, all of
it, Metcalf said, is to make
the deaths of Tyler Drake,
19, and Anitrea Draber, 37,
in their home on Harvard
Avenue in Shelton early in
the morning on Memorial
Day.
Longshore was arrested
on June 1. Judge Toni Shel-
don denied him bail.
Longshore has signed a
waiver of speedy trial and is
not scheduled to go to trial on
the murder case until early
2013.
those troopers and citizens
safer on highways.
"They're geeing trained by
the best of the best," he said. 'Tqe
want safe drivers out there."
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Shelton-Mason County Journal-Thursday, Nov. 22, 2012 - Page A-3
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