Modesto, CALIF Officer’s John Plavier and Scott Hockwitt’s names were drawn from thousands of hopefuls to compete in the 5.11 Challenge shooting competition at the Big Horn Lodge in Montana. They were two of the 64 officers randomly drawn to compete in the event. Each participating officer receives a gear bag from sponsors totaling over $1,500 but the 5.11 Challenge is unique in that teams not only receive these individual prizes, but compete for department-wide prizes as well. The departments of the first through third place teams receive $100,000, $50,000, and $25,000 worth of gear respectively. Last year the finalists donated all of their department winnings to departments hit hardest by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. In response to this, Challenge sponsors Aimpoint®, Camelbak®, eSWAT, Teflon®, Glock®, First Choice Armor® and Streamlight®, and 5.11 Tactical among others, increased their own donations bringing the total gear sent to the region to almost $500,000. Plavier and Hockwitt completed their three-day competition last Wednesday. Each team had to show shooting skills with rifles, shotguns and handguns. “What a great opportunity for any officer in the country,” says Plavier “I can’t believe we got so lucky.” The Passaic County Sheriff’s Department team captured third place for their competition but with eight weeks of competition and eight officers each week, only the top three teams will return for the finals in August 25-27. The other six officers competing with the Passaic County team, were two officers from the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office in Canon City, Colorado, two from the Byron Police Department in Byron, Georgia, and a team representing the US Department of Defense Police in Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. The weekend ended with a fishing trip down the Big Horn river and a trip to the Little Bighorn National Monument.