Mounties best troopers at shooting competition

PALMER — The Royal Canadian Mounted Police will take the team trophy back to the Yukon after winning the 53rd annual International Law Enforcement Pistol Competition in Palmer this past weekend.

Against the beautiful backdrop of Pioneer Peak and The Twins, a team of six Mounties outshot their Alaska State Troopers counterparts by a close margin of 36 points out of 12,000 possible point — less than four rounds — to win the team competition after losing the previous years to the troopers.

Although the RCMP won the team competition, the Commissioner’s Cup, which pits the two top-ranked officers from the RCMP in the Yukon Territory and Alaska Department of Public Safety, will stay in Alaska for the fourth straight year after Commissioner Joseph Masters beat Chief Superintendent Peter Clark. In addition, for the first time since 2000, a team of AST wives won the Significant Other Shoot Off (SOSO) against a team that consisted of mostly RCMP wives, a girlfriend and a daughter.

First-year competitor RCMP Constable Stephen “Archie” Archibald took the top overall individual shooting honors while Wasilla-based Alaska Wildlife Trooper Investigator Brent Johnson won the tactical portion. Katherine Hood, wife of AST Sgt. Tim Schoenberg, was the top shooter for the ladies.

The teams had a practice round on Saturday, with some contestants shooting their partners’ type of pistol for the first time. The women took over the range on Sunday for the SOSO competition. After the team portion on Sunday, AST and RCMP team members competed individually in a tactical course that had competitors running between stations and using different types of firearms.

The contest, known as “The Shoot,” pits a team of Troopers against a team of Canadian RCMP counterparts. After a day of practicing Saturday, members took turns Sunday shooting side by side using the Troopers’ standard-issue pistol, a .40-caliber Glock, to go through an AST course of fire. They then used the RCMP’s standard issue 9 mm Smith and Wesson to go through the RCMP’s course of fire.

Participants then switched weapons, and each shooter completed the other team’s course of fire using their partner’s sidearm. This relates to a case many years ago where the Mounties and Troopers were working together to track down a suspect near Hyder, a border community in Southeast Alaska with a neighboring Canadian community just across the international line. Policy prevented a trooper from using his service weapon in Canada when the trooper crossed the border. The Mounties had to provide him with one of their weapons to use during the apprehension. Since then, the cooperation between the Yukon Territory and Alaska has changed where this isn’t necessary today. Instead, thanks in part to events such as The Shoot, if the need arises, Troopers could ask their neighbors across the border for help.

While the event is built up around a shooting contest, the occasion is more about camaraderie between the Alaska State Troopers and Mounties. Shortly after Alaska became a state in 1959, Inspector Joe Vachon, commanding officer of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, wanted to find a way for the agencies to get to know each other better on a personal basis as well as strengthen their working partnership. It is the longest-standing international shooting competition in the world.

International Law Enforcement Pistol Competition

Saturday and Sunday, Palmer

Team

Royal Canadian Mounted Police

High Score for Commissioner Cup

Alaska Department of Public Safety Commissioner Joseph Masters

Tactical Shoot “Top Gun”

Alaska Wildlife Trooper Investigator Brent Johnson of Wasilla

Significant Other Shoot Off

Alaska State Troopers

Highest Individual Score

RCMP Cst. Stephen Archibald of Whitehorse, Yukon

Highest Individual SOSO Score

Katherine Hood, AST wife

Highest Score for AST Course of Fire (COF) by AST

AST Sgt. Chad Goeden of the Fairbanks post

Highest Score for RCMP COF by RCMP

RCMP Cst. Stephen Archibald

Highest Score for AST COF by RCMP

Corporal Ryan Hack of Faro, Yukon

Highest Score for RCMP COF by AST

AST Sgt. Tim Schoenberg of Fairbanks Judicial Services

Highest Aggregate Score by AST

Sgt. Chad Goeden

Highest Aggregate Score by RCMP

Cst. Stephen Archibald