FEATURED AUTHOR
VAN RITCH

Van Ritch served 22 years in the U.S. Army, but his career did not take the normal path. Serving as a Special Forces officer and as a counterintelligence agent, he had a number of interesting assignments as well as some unique "training opportunities." One of the more interesting and challenging of these was the British Army's Special Intelligence Operations course, during which a wide variety of surveillance techniques were taught. These techniques have been used successfully in Northern Ireland and throughout the world to collect sensitive intelligence and support special missions and counterterrorist operations.

While serving in West Berlin as the officer in charge of counterespionage for the U.S. sector, Ritch witnessed firsthand the value of surveillance, both as a tool for collecting information and a defensive measure for protecting yourself, your fellow team members, and your sources. He learned the value of being able to use the terrain – both urban and natural – to assist with surveillance of the "bad guys." While most investigators were content to conduct surveillance from the comfort of their vehicles, Ritch and a few of the bolder agents learned to blend into the surrounding areas and were able to ensure successful operations.

Following his three-year tour in Berlin, Ritch was invited to attend the U.S. Army Special Forces course. After successfully completing training, he was assigned to the 7th Special Forces Group at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. During his tour with the 7th Group, Ritch served first as the counterintelligence officer, where he developed an urban operations course designed to train Special Forces teams to operate and survive in hostile urban environments. He later commanded a Special Forces "A" team, whose primary mission was training for counterterrorist operations. This team was also periodically tasked with conducting penetration operations against sensitive government facilities to determine their security vulnerabilities.

After his tour as an "A" team commander, Ritch was handpicked by Col. Nick Rowe to develop the U.S. Army's SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape) school. In this capacity, he served as operations officer and supervised the development and delivery of course instruction. During this assignment, Ritch and selected NCOs also developed evasion routes and procedures for U.S. military personnel operating in Honduras. It was also during this time that the SERE committee developed the U.S. Army's antiterrorist and personnel protection course for at-risk personnel serving or traveling overseas in high-threat areas.

Ritch was later assigned to a special operations unit, where he conducted intelligence duties and trained friendly foreign military personnel in special operations and intelligence techniques. Following several other special operations and intelligence assignments, some of which were of a classified nature, Ritch retired from the army.

After his army career, Ritch began training law enforcement officers at the North Carolina Justice Academy. Initially, Ritch was asked to oversee the academy's flagship course, which was designed to train law enforcement leaders in managing and leading their agencies. During this time, a number of hostage incidents were taking place throughout the United States and a bomb was exploded at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. The man eventually charged with that bombing, Eric Rudolph, was skilled in backwoods survival techniques and was thought to be hiding in the wilderness. Visiting the field headquarters site in western North Carolina where the FBI, ATF, and other state and local agencies had set up headquarters, Ritch quickly determined that operating in rural areas was one enforcement capability that these police agencies did not possess. In talking to other agency representatives, he recognized the need for a course designed to train law enforcement officers to operate in a rugged rural environment. What began as a one-week course quickly turned into a very intensive three-week training session consisting of many practical exercises and hands-on training experiences. Ritch soon saw that the need for this unique and valuable training in rural surveillance extended to law enforcement agencies throughout the nation. Combining the original course material with his training and experiences serving with special operations units, he developed a course of training that he now conducts for selected individuals and law enforcement agencies throughout the United States. The skills taught in this course are covered in depth in Ritch's book Rural Surveillance: A Cop's Guide to Gathering Evidence in Remote Areas, now available from Paladin Press.

RURAL SURVEILLANCE
A Cop's Guide to Gathering Evidence in Remote Areas

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