by Sylvia Benavidez
Members of the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Mounted Unit come from all over the county to become an important part of Calhoun County’s law enforcement team, and they choose to do it without garnering a salary. Although the sheriff’s department supplies them with some equipment such as bullets, and a liaison officer, the unit is required to have their own horses and pay for most of their own equipment such as bullet proof vests and training.
In addition to their normal duties, work, and required continuing education, unit members have spent a good portion of the fall fundraising. They hosted a pancake breakfast Oct. 12 at the Newton Township Community Building in Ceresco. Last Monday, they were the designated beneficiary of the Mobile App fundraiser at Chick-Fil-A in Battle Creek with another opportunity coming up to support them there on Dec. 23.
Sheriff Reserve Deputy and Unit Vice-President Beth Denbrock, Marshall, has been with the unit four years. In an interview she explained her dedication to her volunteer work by saying, “It gives us joy to represent the sheriff to the community and interacting with the folks that live in the community, especially the kids. We are a good bridge between law enforcement and the folks in the community. Horses are disarming and often in difficult situations can be a great decelerant. It is a privilege for us that the sheriff allows us to do this,” she said. “We are all volunteers. We get no money from the county, no tax money from the county. So., we do activities like the pancake breakfast.”
This year’s graduating class changed the dynamics of the unit, which is now made up of nine women and three men. Deputy Jeff Adams has been with the unit for 10 years and has been its captain in the past. “We have brought some good professional people onboard…They are willing to be trained. They are willing to work with us and they are doing an outstanding job,” said Adams.
Two deputies that graduated in May are Kathy Fischer, Battle Creek, and Michelle Bishop, Ceresco. They shared the challenges of the training and what it takes to become a part of the mounted unit. Both the horses and the people are prepared for their law enforcement duties with rigorous training.
“We did a 19-week course, basically a classroom course two nights a week to get our certification to be a reserve officer and the part for the mounted unit is to train with the horseback. We have a guy (Bill Ritchie) that comes in that does special training with us on how to handle our horses through different obstacles and new environments that they might not be used to. The dogs barking at us, people with umbrellas, the strollers, the wheelchairs, fire, smoke, all of those things,” said Bishop.
“Part of our training is that we have to do ride-alongs with regular officers on the street. So, we do 40 hours of that. So those calls are everything from domestic violence to car accidents to fire, to missing people,” said Fischer.
Some of those in the last class got on-the-job training a little early. “Some of our members before they graduated, they actually did help another county with a search and rescue through using the horse for a lost child,” said Bishop.
The scariest part of training for Fischer was learning to shoot from a horse. “We have to qualify with our firearms every year, annually. And then we do three other times as a unit, we do practice sessions in various things,” she said. “Our horses have qualify annually too, and they go through a series of obstacles and situations that we set up, that are simulated, and they have to go through those and pass those.”
Bishop explained how the other officers they have worked with have received them. “They are positive with us. They love us around because they know people respond well to those horses and so they love having us out there helping patrol. There are so few of them in certain situations that it is just nice to have eyes out there because if you’re present people usually respond better.”
Their liaison officer, Sgt. Shad Walling of the road patrol division of the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Department sees the value of the unit and even volunteers some of his time for the unit. He sees them filling a void. “They do it all without getting paid. This is all voluntary and we can’t thank them enough. There have been times when events come up in the last minute and somebody is always willing to help out,” he said.
The ability to help people while spending time with their horse is what attracted Bishop and Fischer to the job. The women enjoy being out in the public and appreciate when people ask permission to pet their horses. “The most heartwarming thing to me is seeing the kids. I was at a kind of inner-city event and the kids that had never been that close to the horse or even seen a horse in person, they just get real excited and amazed at that event. There were four of us women on horseback and they were surprised that there were women on horses carrying guns. They just didn’t realize that would be an option for them.”
Both Adams and Walling agree that the training the two women received in the last year has prepared them for work in public relations but just as importantly for law enforcement. As Adams said, “If I have to get in a fight, I would want them watching my back.”
