Durango Police Department Cpl. Jim Spratlen looks back at the afternoon of May 29 and sometimes thinks about what he and his men could have done differently.

The department’s tactical response team – a specially trained unit of about 12 officers – along with a SWAT team from the La Plata County Sheriff’s Department, were the first to search the area where three alleged cop-killers abandoned their stolen flatbed truck after eluding police.

"You can always Monday morning quarterback," said Spratlen, who leads the tactical team. "Maybe we could have had a stronger perimeter set up, but the problem is getting all the personnel there – we’re talking hundreds in such a short time."

And as they descended into the rugged canyons northwest of Cortez, they had this in the back of their minds: The fugitives had killed one police officer, injured two Montezuma County deputies and showered half a dozen law enforcement vehicles with automatic gunfire just a few hours earlier.

"It was very stressful," Spratlen said. "We are used to urban assaults and urban conditions. This was more of a military-type fieldwork situation.

"Odds were if they were to shoot, they would get one of us," Spratlen said. "We had no cover, all out in the open. We had to keep ourselves safe from attack."

The Durango unit brought in a search dog, which followed the fugitives’ tracks heading west into the canyons until the scent was lost.

Spratlen said even though the suspects escaped into the rugged country, eluding capture for 15 days, there is not much they could have done differently.

"They had the advantage over us," he said. "They knew the territory. They knew the terrain. We didn’t."

The mission was the fourth for the DPD’s tactical response squad, which was formed in 1994. He said even though they did not catch the suspects, the manhunt has been good training for Durango officers and the approximately 45 other agencies involved in the hunt.

"Sadly enough, there is some good that has come out of the bad," Spratlen said. "We have learned how to work with all of these other agencies.