Recent Tracking Successes from TTTS students

---

 Talon and TTTS staff,

I would like to take a moment and share a tracking victory story. I am a member of my department's SRT (Special Response Team). Our team has a monthly training on various topics. Our training date for the month of July was scheduled for July 25, 2017. The scheduled training topic hit a brick wall and fell through. I was asked in a phone conversation if I could provide a simple and quick overview of tactical man tracking. This was asked of me due to having been in attendance to three schools presented by your instructional staff. I have attended your land navigation for law enforcement as well as level I and II tactical man tracking. I agreed to the opportunity to share a small bit of knowledge with my team members.

 I opened up by a short discussion of the basic team formation. I discussed air and ground spoor, and what that is. I told the team to be observant in a trail blaze made from the fleeing suspect. After about a ten minute classroom discussion I then took the team to a wooded area to show them what I had just discussed. We worked in a Y formation and conducted a mini followup exercise.  The team quickly began identifying both ground and aerial spoor left by the "suspect". The flankers even picked up the spoor when the "suspect" had taken a hard turn. The team was overall impressed with the overview and seemed to agree the tactic was proven and works. 

 On July 26, 2017 a vehicle chase was dispatched from an adjoining county. The dispatch advised the fleeing vehicle was a vehicle involved in an ongoing man hunt in Transylvania County NC. The vehicle being pursued was said to be driven by a man wanted for several felony offenses in the western part of NC. The suspect was also wanted in questioning for the disappearance of an elderly male in the Mills River area. The vehicle was actually registered the the missing elderly male. My agency assisted in deployment of stop sticks once the vehicle entered our county. The stop sticks were successful and rendered the vehicle inoperable.

 The male driver then jumped from the disabled vehicle and fled into an agricultural field. Several law enforcement officers were on scene within moments of the jump and run. The first two officers who entered the field found the roadside vegetation was much taller than they realized, almost chest high. Both officers followed the same path down to the field. Once in the field the officers located a locked portable bathroom. The officers, now accompanied by several others, surrounded the locked door. The door was forced open and the bathroom was found to be empty. One of the original officers is also a member of SRT. He stated to me he looked back towards the embankment and roadway. The officers stated he recalled the discussion of observing trail blaze and spoor. The officer quickly realized the only trails made off the embankment were by the pursuing officers and himself. The officer stated he told all the officers based on the observation the suspect had to be hiding in the tall vegetation along the embankment. The group of law enforcement officers began working back towards the embankment to conduct a grid search. As the officers approached the embankment they heard the obvious sound of breaking sticks. It was moments after they observed the fleeing suspect emerge from the vegetation and flee on foot. The officers quickly apprehended the fleeing suspect in the field.  

 This suspect had been on the run for five days and was apprehended in my opinion by tracking skills obtained during your courses. This suspect has to my knowledge since been charged with first degree murder for the murder of the missing elderly male. 

 Thank you and your staff for the quality training you provide and keep up the good work.   

 Got a solid track on Tuesday, man. Jumped in with some property crimes guys and I paired off to go to the sight of a vehicle that had been dumped by some suspects the previous night after a home invasion.

We followed the car tire impressions and disturbances through the woods for about a mile. Located the vehicle but no one was around.

I hit the 360 and located some solid converse tread pattern. Tracked it for 1.5 miles where we got a visual of our suspect. We ran him to the river where we were pulled back and told to wait for K9.

K9 failed to track so we picked the print back up and ran with it until we were pulled back due to it being "too dark." Overall we went for about 3 hours or so but it was solid and good spoor all the way through, just didn't get our guy in the end. 

 Little success story. I handled a trespassing complaint that let to alligator poaching case for Wildlife agents. All based on track!! 

 Had a successful night track tonight at 3 AM. It was a DWI suspect with a hit-and-run. Tracked him through several yards and into the woods, back out of the woods tracking towards his house. About 20 yards from his house looked up and he was going in the back door. Thanks again for the training!!! 

 Had another tracking find today. Used the K-9 for the first 200 yds or so and he lost scent in a creek. Our quarry ran in the creek for about 25-30 yards before exiting the creek and crawling up a bank. I was able to visually track through the creek and to the embankment. I then put the K-9 back on the track and found him about 75-100 yards from the embankment. I had 2 officers with me and they acted like I had done some kind of witchcraft/voo-doo lol they said they will be signing up for level 1 soon so be looking for more Rutherford county guys coming your way.  

Nakina, NC – On April 11, 2016 Mary Jane Smith was reported missing, by her husband. Mrs. Smith was last seen at her residence on Manley Smith Road in Nakina around 1:40 pm. Mrs. Smith has Dementia and wandered away from her residence. A Silver Alert was issued for Mrs. Smith and a command post was established at Happy Home Baptist Church in Nakina. Columbus County Sheriff’s Office along with Columbus County Emergency Management interviewed citizens in the community for additional information to assist in locating Mrs. Smith. Nearby abandoned properties were also searched for her. On April 12th around 9:00 am, Columbus County Sheriff's Office contacted the Brunswick County Sheriff's Office in reference to providing additional resources to assist in locating Mrs. Smith.

Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office Tracking Teams were deployed and began searching the area around the residence at approximately 11:00am. Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office helicopter was later deployed, when weather conditions permitted. The Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office Tracking Team was able to establish a track that they believed Mrs. Smith traveled, in a large wooded area behind the residence. The helicopter team searched the area just ahead of the tracking team. At around 1:00pm, the helicopter team spotted Mrs. Smith approximately 200 feet down the track in the direction where the tracking team was headed. The tracking team approached Mrs. Smith, provided her with a coat and some water, and assisted her out of the area. Mrs. Smith was transported by EMS to a local hospital for evaluation. However, she had no apparent serious injuries.

Sheriff Hatcher would like to express his gratitude to Sheriff Ingram and the Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office for their assistance in locating Mrs. Smith. Combining resources with Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office maximized search and rescue efforts, ensuring that Mrs. Smith was located and returned safely to her family. Sheriff Hatcher would also like to thank Columbus County Emergency Management and Nakina Fire and Rescue for their assistance during the search and Happy Home Baptist Church for allowing the use of their facilities as a command post.

"...Also want to give you guys a shout out: It’s not hundreds of pounds of dope, smugglers or terrorists but thanks in large part to what I have learned from your training, last year I caught six poachers and recovered tens of thousands of illegally harvested plants worth approximately $75,000.  I lost several at night but was able to track them the next day recover what they had stashed.  As a park ranger, that’s pretty darn flashy. 

Thanks and keep up the good work."

Tracking Success from Park Ranger at Grandfather Mountain State Park

 
Hey man. Just wanted to fill you in on a successful incident we had last Friday here in XXXXXXX. Patrol was dispatched to an armed robbery in progress of our CVS pharmacy. I was close, and started that way.  As I got close I heard on the radio that the suspect had left the business in a van. A vigilant patrol officer spotted the van and stopped the vehicle. A male matching the description of the suspect jumped from the van and ran into a field. The officer had to address a female that was driving the van and could not pursue the male. I arrived shortly after the stop and was able to use a witness statement to determine the male had laid down in a patch of woods. I boxed the area of woods and found where the male entered and was lying face down under the trees. The suspect was taken into custody without incident. I was then able to backtrack from where the male entered the woods following his path back to the vehicle. Along the backtrack I was able to locate the stolen pills from the pharmacy that the suspect had thrown into the weeds and also located the sunglasses worn by the suspect during the robbery. Our team completed Level 1 of your training on March 20th. This incident occurred on March 27th. Within a week of completing level 1 we have used our training to locate 2 suspects, a missing juvenile, and recover a shotgun that was tossed. Thanks for the awesome training and we all look forward to level 2 in April.

March 2015

Just sending an email to inform you all of a success story we had this evening tracking a missing juvenile.  Responded to a home here in XXXXX and the father said his daughter climbed out of a window and left the residence. Outside the window we found her track and tracked her across the street to a church that had beautiful green grass. She went through the grass onto a driveway . The driveway had transfer from the grass and some mud. We was able to look across and see that she crossed and went back into a muddy section of land just off the right of way. She then went a about a block in front of some houses walking through the grass to a home where we located a male. He stated that she got into a vehicle with another male and went to the Jack In the Box.  We located the female at this location with her boyfriend.  

Thanks for the great training,

 Just wanted to share a tracking success we had tonight. I was working the evening of 03/15/15 when
XXXXX County Sheriffs Officer request mutual aid assistance in locating an involuntary commitment patient who had escaped the medical center in XXXX and fled on foot. With other officers already on scene and late to the party I arrived at the medical center where I was directed to an area in town where the suspect had been seen by a local business owner.

Upon arrival to the area where he was last seen, me and one of the deputies who has some tracking training immediately began boxing the PVA where we quickly picked up spore leaving the PVA into the woods. We were told by other officers that we were looking in an area that had already been checked however in addition the police boot prints we found spore consistent with our quarry as he was only wearing socks;  so we picked up 2 additional security elements and proceeded on.

We conducted the follow-up into the woods about 200ft where we lost spore. While checking likely lines the Deputy spotted the escapee and after a brief foot pursuit he was taken into custody without further incident. I have dealt with this particular patient several times in the past. He suffers from schizophrenia is very volatile when not on medication and he is prone to violent outburst. He was taken into custody just before he reached a large apartment complex that is heavily populated with predominantly college students. No telling what he may have attempted had he made it there.

Once again the skillset served us and the community well and ended the situation before anything happened. Couldn’t have done it without the training!

PS. A K9 initially worked the ICP prior to the mutual aid request and quickly lost sent as the track led to a field full of cows and a bull. After checking a barn and other buildings he was unable to reacquire.

 Little success story. I handled a trespassing complaint that let to alligator poaching case for Wildlife agents. All based on track!! 

Like I said, Combat Tracker School is the most memorable class and by far my favorite I have attended in my career. I have had three deployments to Afghanistan since being to the course and it has been a major success for me and my squad mates who had also been to the course with me. Here are some of the success stories:

09-10 Deployment:
I personally utilized my tracking skills to follow the spoor of a guy who was deemed a IED emplacer and destroyed by helicopters. Upon doing BDA the following morning our higher needed physical evidence of his activities. He had been shot down on one side of a large orchard/crop field so I hopped in and began following his spoor through the fields. As his trail took me closer and closer to the road I was able to find his staged battery pack, spooled wire and ultimately the exact location in which he had prepped the sight for his IED along with his marking stones for initiation. Had I not been there to use my skills as well as place him at the scene using shoe impression analysis, we would have had a weak packet to support the death of this man as a hostile threat. Later it was found at his tent/home location after having sufficient evidence, due to tracking, to search we found three 155m shells that had been linked and prepped to be put into the hole that I had found, which would have easily killed and destroyed US troops that ended up driving down that road the next day.

Another occasion that brings fond memories; my platoon was called to try and identify the whereabouts of three military age males spotted in the mountains near our FOB, carrying multiple weapons, but ID of those males had been lost. Using the area in which they had been last seen them traveling, myself and two of my tracker buddies were able to pick up their spoor heading in the direction that had been reported. Over an extended track that went into the night, we came upon a small grouping of compounds at first light that the tracks led straight to so we set up in an overwatch position to observe this unknown location. We observed many weapons being moved about and what looked to be classes being conducted in these compounds as we gained intelligence over the next 24 hours. A strike by another platoon was ordered while we maintained eyes on the compounds the following morning. It resulted in a Taliban training camp being taken. Going off of memory I believe 20+ AK-47s, 3 PKMs, 7 RPGs w/40+ rounds, 1 recoilless rifle, and an 81mm Chinese mortar system with 12+ rounds were all found and confiscated. Of the surviving males, locations of 5 other small camps like these were given up and auctioned on turning up multitudes of weapons, ammo, training material, maps, and intelligence logs of their movements and personnel counts and locations of even more locations. A chain reaction that resulted of a successful track between three trackers working together to keep track.

I will have some more but I am being called to go take care of some property issues. Currently in Afghanistan right now, and I have actually taught several classes from my Combat Tracker manual, emphasizing the importance of every man being able to see something different and be observant of everything around them. Many times when just out and about I can find where someone has been and give a pretty good picture of what they had been doing there, even if it had been a simple farmer. My guys are thrown back at the things they never even notice, but work hard to train their eyes and ask me to confirm things more and more that they see and find. Needless to say the army does not push tracking hard enough!

More success stories to come.

_____________

 One of the best courses I have ever taken! Larry and Talon are great instructors and squared away professionals. The quality and depth of their training program is top notch. Their assistant instructors are more than qualified and are a testimony to quality of TTTS’s program. The craft of tracking as taught by TTTS is a force multiplier and this proven method WILL increase the operational capabilities for law enforcement and military. I can’t say enough about this these guys and their program!
 

 just finished level II with you guys yesterday here in Randolph County and wanted to mention got a simple license plate larceny call today where the victim swore the tag had to have been removed in his driveway (track trap!!!) I was able to establish that there was no way it happened in that drive unless a ghost took it. I eliminated all prints as being domestic to the house and nothing foreign was found. Also no action indicators near the vehicle plate area. Very simple stuff, but I thought it was kind of cool information to know because prior to meeting you guys I would never thought to have looked. 

 TTTS Student / Assistant Instructor follow up results in two arrests after armed robbery in Lincolnton, NC 

 I highly recommend this class to anyone in the business. It really opens your eyes to the almost invisible and teaches the importance of patience and thoroughness to effectively catch "the quarry".

Been meaning to drop this line to you just been busy as heck.

On 4-11-2013 we had a Burglary to a residence in our county. While assisting in investigating the case I did a 360 of the property and found some disturbances across the gravel drive where someone had walked. I followed that line and found where the suspect had cut across the road and into the woods. Myself and another member of the team followed this track of .75 miles as it weaved thru the woods and roads in the neighborhood. Once we arrived at the end point based on our tracking we were able to get a search warrant which led to an arrest not only in this case but several other unsolved cases up to that point.

The defense attorney, during the probable cause hearing, did his best to discredit our tracking skills. When we started laying out our certificates from you classes and explained your teams credentials in training he dropped the matter. The suspect is still pending his actual trial date and as soon as that is complete I will send you some pictures of the track path. Currently they are evidence so we don’t want to mess anything up.

Also we have had 3 missing/ lost person cases that ended positively in due to our new tracking skills.

4-24-2013 juvenile female found in neighbors home. After no tracks could be found leaving the area neighbors home was searched.

7-8-2013 missing adult female found after she ran away from boyfriends house following a domestic situation, tracked thru neighborhood.

7-9-2013 missing adult male tracked and found unconscious due to medical condition .25 miles from his home in the woods.

Thanks again for the training look forward to seeing you in October at Ft. Bragg,

WE WERE DISPATCHED TO A LOCAL CITY LAKE IN REFERENCE TO A SUICIDE THREAT. ONCE ON SCENE WE WERE DIRECTED BY OFFICERS ON SCENE THE WOODED AREA OF ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF THE LAKE.

WE RESPONDED TO THE DIRT TRAIL AND BEGAN OUR SEARCH. AS SOON AS WE ENTERED THE DIRT TRAIL WE IMMEDIATELY PICKED UP SPORE THAT INDICATED A PERSON HAD BEEN DOWN THE PATH RECENTLY.

WE CONTINUED OUR FOLLOW UP ON THE TRAIL AND OBSERVED BROKEN BRANCHES AND TWIGS ON THE GROUND THAT INDICATED THEY HAD RECENTLY BEEN BROKEN. IN ADDITION TO THESE SIGNS WE OBSERVED CLEAR FOOT PRINTS ON TRACK TRAPS LOCATED WITHIN THE TRAIL.

ARIAL SPORE WAS ALSO LOCATED. WE WERE ABLE TO DETERMINE THAT WE WERE WITHIN A HALF OUR OF THE SUBJECT DUE TO NOTCING SPIDERS REBUILDING THEIR WEBS.

AS WE CONTINUED OUR FOLOW UP WE NOTICED THAT THE SUBJECT HAD STOPPED AND TURNED AROUND AS IF HE WERE LOOKING TO SEE IF ANYONE IS FOLLOWING HIM.

AT THIS POINT WE SLOWED OUR FOLLOW UP DUE TO THEIR ONLY BEING TWO OFFICERS, AND INDICATORS THAT THE SUBJECT WAS AWARE OF OUR PRESENCE.

AS WE CONTINUED OUR FOLOW UP, WE OBSERVED AN INDIVIDUAL STANDING BEHIND A TREE. AT FIRST ALL WE COULD SEE WAS THE SUBJECTS LEG. WE CHALLENGED THE INDIVIDUAL AT WHICH POINT WE OBSERVED THE INDIVIDUAL PUT SOMETHING IN A BAG THAT HE WAS HOLDING. WE CONTINUED TO CHALLENGE HIM, AND THE SUBJECT SLOWLY BEGAN TO COMPLY WITH OUR COMMANDS.

WE THEN DETAINED THE SUSPECT AND SEARCHED HIM AND THE BAG HE WAS CARRYING WHICH RESULTED IN US LOCATING LOADED HAND GUN.

THE SUBJECT WAS TAKEN INTO CUSTODY AND TRANSPORTED TO THE HOSPITAL FOR A MENTAL HEALTH EVALUATION.

TOTAL TRACK DISTANCE: APPROXIMATELY 0.5 MILES.

TOTAL TRACK TIME: APPROXIMATELY 1 HOUR.

On July 9, 2013 Det. James Huffman was involved in a motor vehicle chase. The defendant in this case wrecked his vehicle after three minutes into the chase.  The defendant jumped out of his vehicle and took off in the woods on foot.  When Det. James Huffman caught up to where the defendant wrecked his vehicle he got a description of the defendant from a witness who was working outside of a factory, (a white male wearing a bright yellow shirt and light brown short).  With the defendants description now in mind Det. James Huffman found where the defendant went down a bank and into the woods.  Using the tracking skills learned in tactical man tracker school, Det. James Huffman tracked the defendant through a ¼ of a mile patch of woods into a residential neighborhood.   Det. James Huffman asked individuals working outside of their residences if they had seen the defendant.  The ones that had seen the defendant pointed Det. James Huffman in the direction of the defendants travel.  Most of the time Det. James Huffman was able to find spore supporting the witness’s information.  This continued for about a ½ a mile going from backyard to backyard until Det. James Huffman came to a small patch of wood about 100 yards by 100 yards in size.  A witness said she saw the defendant go into that patch off woods.  Det. James Huffman got on spore leading into that patch of woods and followed it until he was within 15 feet of the defendant.  Just before Det. James Huffman saw the defendant another Deputy spotted him lying on his belly, shirtless.  The defendant had taken off his bright yellow shirt that all the witnesses had saw leading me to him.  The defendant was arrested on an outstanding felony warrant.

If it was not for the skills Det. James Huffman learned from Tactical Tracker Training School, taught by Larry and Talon Wilkinson, this felon would have gotten away Scott free.

Training pays off already.  I responded to a call where a suspect fled into the woods. A K-9 team responded and started the track while I provided cover. We were about 50 yards into the woods and the K-9 Officer was not confident that the dog was on the track. 

I noticed a track trap ahead and went in front of the dog team. The track trap was empty so I ran my likely lines. I noticed a disturbance in the moss covered soil where a small section of the moss was turned over. The moss was approximately 12 inches across and a silver dollar size portion was turned over in the middle. The track was made by the quarry’s toe digging into the hill as he attempted to climb up. The track was less than two hours old and the area is not commonly traveled. I followed the line and located a footprint consistent with the type of footwear the quarry was reported to be wearing. 

We followed the track line and came up on the quarry trying to make his way to a car. After a short chase the suspect ran into a store where we apprehended him in the storage area. Had we not been able to positively identify the track of our quarry, we would not have been able to close the time / distance gap and capture him.

Thanks for imparting your wisdom,

I just recently attended a combat tracking course in which you were the primary instructor. My knowledge of tracking was some but very little (mainly hunting), the information that you shared and taught was phenomenal. I have since used my skills to help Park Rangers, Border Patrol, other Marines, and local Search and Rescue teams. I really appreciate your expertise and time you put into our class. I personally feel tracking helps encompass the Warrior Mindset.

 I just attended your Level I Tactical Mantracking for Law Enforcement in Morganton NC. I enjoyed the class and look forward to the Level II coming up this Oct. You guys provided us expert real world training that will serve my team members for the remainder of their law enforcement careers.

 Due to the overwhelmingly positive response regarding the Man Tracking class at Western Piedmont Community College.  They are tentatively offering another class the week of June 6-10 2011.  Please email me immediately if you wish to attend the man tracking class in June.  Martin Hicks from WPCC needs a head count of interested officers.

 ...Several of the guys, myself included have had other tracking courses over the past few years. That said,  The training we received in day one of your course, covered more than 3 days of the  tracking course we took in the mountains.  Thanks again for the training. 

 ...and we use the skills that we learned from your Level I course as part of our daily SOP. We've had the chance to use the tracking on many calls and are looking forward to Level II... 

 .....Your 50 hour LE 1 course 02/14-02/18 was great and I look forward to April for the LE2 course.   I have vacation already scheduled and anxious to get back out and learn.  Stay safe and keep spoor in your sights.
 

After Action 073113

Once again visual tracking has shown its "immediate" worth as an essential skill set for officers in the field.  An alarm call went out tonight at a business. 

Upon our arrival the business owner was already on scene and looked everything over and said it was a false trip. We told him we were glad his property was ok but we wanted to take a look around. I didn't bother telling him we tracked, I just asked to see the bottom of his shoes for elimination purposes. 

Within 5 minutes of cutting the scene, we were able to determine that it was not a false trip, but a failed attempt. We located the tracks of two suspects that approached from the northeast, attempted to open the bay door, tripped the motion alarm by shaking the door while trying to pull it open, and then fled to the east/northeast after the piercing audible alarm sounded.   

We then shared our findings with the business owner who was surprised we used tracking and could read the ground. It was like watching a child's spark in an old man's eyes. Since it was a failed attempt and there was no damage, the owner didn't care to make a report.  

***As a rule, be sure to always take the time to document the suspect's tread patterns and track measurements no matter how fired up you are to get on their trail and hunt them down. That intel is critical. 

Also, criminals on the run may have a layer of clothing underneath to shed to, but rarely do they carry spare sneakers. There's a counter for those who attempt to change shoes to fool a tracker, but I won't disclose that kind of information here due to tracker's OPSEC. 

From:   XXXXXX X XXXXXXXX, LT, USN

To:  TXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXX

Subj:  TRACKING INSTRUCTOR LARRY WILKINSON

1. This letter is to relate my experience and impressions of Larry Wilkinson as an instructor working for xXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX School. 

2. I successfully completed the Visual Tracking Intelligence Standard Course in February, 2010.  During this course of instruction I had the pleasure of having Mr. Wilkinson as an instructor.  From day one, Mr. Wilkinson was very friendly and extremely helpful.  Coming from a Navy background, Mr. Wilkinson, I and my colleagues immediately found common ground.  His expert advice and vast knowledge of tracking combined with his eagerness to teach quickly made him our favorite instructor.

3 … he was a complete professional.  Given the chance to attend another course taught by Mr. Wilkinson, I would not hesitate to do so and furthermore would highly recommend him as an instructor to anyone interested in Combat Tracking.