DE PERE, WI (WTAQ) – It’s become an important way for the Green Bay Police Department to engage with the community and build positive relationships.
The mounted patrol was implemented a little over a year ago and was deployed 20 times in 2016.
Lt. Dave Wesely says those deployments are invaluable as they help officers build connections with the public.
“It’s a chance to see that police officers are real people. It’s a chance to engage with the police officers and communicate and just keep those relationships in a positive light,” said Wesely.
The department has 7 officers who are trained to ride the animals. Both the horses and officers get special training every Tuesday and Thursday morning at Exceptional Equestrians stables in De Pere.
“We try to train about 4 hours a week with each one of the officers.”
The unit has a total of 2 horses now, Josh and Stella, but ideally the department would like to have a total of 6 horses.
But as positive as the program has been, there are challenges, like funding.
“This isn’t something that you normally would have a city finance. So we realize that this is an extra thing that we’re asking from the community,” explained Wesely.
Learn more about the mounted patrol by clicking on the video above.
