Highway Patrol trooper enjoys the view from the top

Julie Smith/News Tribune
Trois Maloney of the Missouri State Highway Patrol is photographed in the tower at the Emergency Vehicle Operations Course or EVOC, located on adjacent grounds to the Ike Skelton Training Site on Militia Drive. One of Maloney's duties is as EVOC instructor. She also serves in other roles in recruit training.
Julie Smith/News Tribune Trois Maloney of the Missouri State Highway Patrol is photographed in the tower at the Emergency Vehicle Operations Course or EVOC, located on adjacent grounds to the Ike Skelton Training Site on Militia Drive. One of Maloney's duties is as EVOC instructor. She also serves in other roles in recruit training.

Law enforcement wasn't the career path Missouri Highway Patrol Sgt. Trois Maloney was on about 20 years ago.

She was a single mother, working for the Division of Family Services and attending college to improve her situation. Several of her classes, including one taught by a Highway Patrol trooper, were geared toward law enforcement.

He asked if she ever considered law enforcement as a career.

"My dad was a police officer part-time. It was something I had thought about, but by that point, I was older and my son was very small," Maloney said. "I didn't really know if that was something that I could make work in my life."

So, she continued on with college for a few years. But the thought intrigued her, and Maloney decided it was something she wanted to pursue. She reached out to her old instructor and applied for the academy.

Maloney was accepted and graduated in 2004.

Her first assignment was on Interstate 70 in Warren County - part of Troop C, which encompasses counties in the St. Louis area. It was a massive step from Atlanta, Missouri, a tiny city in Macon County where she'd been living.

"It was going to present a lot of challenges," Maloney said. "But, I loved it. I loved the job and stayed there until my son graduated high school."

The change had been difficult for her son. He was 9 when they moved near the urban area.

"He was not thrilled," she said. "He was able to make a really big change and still thrive."

After he graduated, he left home and attended a Kentucky college on a golf scholarship. Now, he's a golf pro.

When he left for college, Maloney had also become ready for a change of scenery, she said.

She accepted a position in Phelps County.

"I went there because I love to trout fish," she said. "That's my hobby. And, (the job) kind of got me close to all the trout parks."

By that time, she was already travelling to the Missouri Highway Patrol Emergency Vehicle Operation Course (EVOC) to help with several training sessions - like "Stop and Approach," which teaches recruits how to make traffic stops.

"And really, do whatever I could, because I enjoyed this environment - teaching. I enjoyed being with all the recruits," Maloney said. "It is such an important time for them - especially in that point in their careers."

She spent a couple of years working in the Rolla area, then a position opened at the academy.

And she realized she was ready for the leap.

She has been an instructor for the Missouri Highway Patrol for the past six years. And much of that time is spent training recruits at the EVOC.

The EVOC sits within the Ike Skelton Training Site. It contains a 1.3-mile track that includes two lanes going each way, a gravel road loop and a skid-pad.

Although the state only requires 26 hours of driver training, the Highway Patrol provides about 46 to recruits, Maloney said.

"I see how important it is, because driving is something every trooper is doing all day - every single day," she said. "It's really important we emphasize safety and keeping good skills. It's really, really important."

When drivers are on the track with other instructors, Maloney is usually in the top of a control tower, monitoring activities on the tracks. She said, as she climbed the spiral stairs in the tower, the current crop of recruits is large enough that a couple of them have to double-up in some of the vehicles assigned to the course.

"I mean, how fun!" she said as she arrived in the top of the tower Monday afternoon. "How fun is this? What a great office view!"

The tower overlooks the 1.3-mile track that encloses the skid pad and gravel track. Down on the track, the cars circling the course always have their lights on. The drivers are always in communication with Maloney in the tower.

It takes a team to keep it all going, she said.

There are nine instructors going nine different directions at any one time.

They also work together to help Maloney find time to go to Montana and visit with her son - or cast a fly over a river.