The Buzz: Mounted patrol

Thursday, May 28, 2009

By Jake Nichols

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-Tourists on the Town Square rush for their cameras to capture a memento of the great American West – a police officer making a traffic stop.
“I’ve probably had a thousand people take pictures of me after I have tracked down a motorist for a violation and have them pulled over,” Cpl. Russ Ruschill says.

Ruschill looks like your typical Jackson police officer. Nothing about him stands out, really. Unless you count the spurs and the big bay horse, Doc, standing patiently at the end of the 14-foot Mecate lead rope tucked neatly into Ruschill’s belt as he writes out a ticket.

What tourists and Jacksonites and even lawbreakers find so exceptional about Ruschill and other members of the police department’s mounted patrol unit is the horse, of course.

The unit consists of 28 citizen volunteers and five sworn officers – Ruschill, Alan John, Larry Compton, Josh Horsley and Mark Morzov. The members often play second fiddle to their mounts and that’s just fine with the department.

The obvious advantage to putting a portion of the police force in the saddle is the public relations aspect. A ‘cavalry’ of sorts might meet expectations of Jackson Hole visitors hungering for a glimpse of Western lore. Also, mounted officers, despite or maybe because of the 1,100 pounds of horseflesh beneath them, seem friendlier.
“On a horse, I am much more approachable,” Ruschill admits. “I talk to 10 times more people when I am a-horseback. When I pull up in a car people think, ‘Here comes the government, and they are going to hassle me about something.’”

Mounted patrol citizen volunteer Robin Siegfried of Wilson agrees, people are attracted to the horse. “There are always the same three questions,” the oldest member said. “’May I pet your horse?’ ‘Where can I go to the bathroom?’ and ‘Where’s a good place to eat?’”

For the volunteer force, who are trained to observe and report criminal behavior over the radio, the job often entails nine-parts ambassador, one-part crime-stopper. But it’s not without the occasional excitement.

A few years ago, one drunken fairgoer was caught breaking into cars during the demo derby. A volunteer patrolwoman pinned the suspect against a chain link fence with a maneuver taught in the 40-hour preparatory class.

Siegfried recalls a night on patrol when his paint-quarter horse, Doxie, sniffed out trouble. “We were working the Willie Nelson concert. It was dark, and I rode up on a couple having sex under a blanket,” Siegfried recalled. “The girl was pretty embarrassed. I just rode away.”

The flexibility a mounted police force gives a department is handy especially in rural communities like Jackson. In big cities, the tradition seems to be waning. The Boston police department recently announced they are dissolving the oldest mounted patrol unit in the nation this July. A similar division in Tempe, Ariz., also faces budget cuts.

In a resort community like Jackson where population can swell to 100,000 on a typical summer, a volunteer patrol can ease the strain on a beleaguered force thinned by budget constraints.

Sgt. Alan John currently heads the mounted patrol that the late Dave Cameron instituted in 1985. He estimates the unit saves the Town of Jackson an average of $48,000 per year in overtime pay and guards against officer ‘burnout.’
Ruschill says for the Old West Days parade alone he counted 21 volunteer riders on duty saving the town about $2,500 in overtime.

For Ruschill, the mounted patrol introducted him to the Jackson Police Department. He knew one day he would use his criminal justice degree to become a police officer, but before he donned the badge he toed the stirrup, joining the volunteer corps in 2000.

He just never dreamed he’d wind up in so many photo albums writing out a traffic ticket.  JHW

Courtesy photo
Mounted volunteers are reportedly approable and cost-effective.

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The Buzz: Mounted patrol | Planet JH News Article: General News

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