Nov. 15--One would think a rest would be in order after hiking 12 miles carrying nearly 70 pounds of gear in the rain. But not for 19 area police officers.
After their 12-mile "forced march" Wednesday morning, the officers did about 90 minutes of weapons training at the Norwalk Police Department shooting range in the back of Veterans Memorial Lake Park.
The hike started east of Bellevue.
"Of course as soon as we got to the starting point, it started raining," said Capt. Mike Conney, the leader of Norwalk's special response team (SRT) since late 2005.
Conney led the hike -- and by example, leaving at 9:34 a.m. He was the first to arrive in Norwalk, coming to the shooting range at 1:16 p.m. The last officer arrived about 20 minutes later.
"It's a pass-fail thing. ... They have to do it on their own power -- no riding in any vehicle," Conney said.
Participating in the forced march were officers from the Norwalk, Huron, Ashland and Loudonville police departments as well as sheriff's deputies from Huron and Ashland counties.
The officers march in full tactical gear: A vest with ballistic plates, protective gas masks -- all while carrying their primary and secondary weapons. Conney said the gear weighs 60 to 70 pounds.
"Everybody wears what they have to wear on a (SRT) call-out," said Conney, who has been a member of the Norwalk SRT since it was started 16 years ago.
The hike is one of four physical performance tests done by the SRT members each year.
One annual test is timed situps and push-ups. The other is a quarter-mile timed sprint, also done in full gear. The sprint is done twice a year.
"It takes several hours to do the march, but when you finish you have to do some training," Conney said.
The weapons training started with marksman/sniper exercises by Detective Sgt. Jim Fulton and Officer Dave Daniels, Norwalk's marksman specialists. Conney said the exercises involved a donated vehicle, which had a threedimensional target inside.
"Once they were done, the rest of the guys worked with the vehicle," Conney said. "We're going to do it again in the spring."
MEETING LOG
The Board of Zoning Appeals will meet at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the Norwalk Municipal Courtroom.
MONROEVILLE -- The Monroeville Local Board of Education will hold a special meeting at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 22 in the Charles Eby Room, 101 West St.
The Huron County Planning Commission will next meet in November. The next scheduled meeting is at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 15 in the Huron County Administration Building, Meeting Room "D."
The City of Norwalk Revolving Loan Fund Board will meet at 4 p.m. Wednesday at city hall, 38 Whittlesey Ave.
The regular monthly meeting of the Huron County Airport Authority Board will be held at 5 p.m. today at the Airport Administration building.
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