Today we speak with Dale Cunningham, who is the patient and personal man responsible for training the equine portion of the patrol. Second, we have Officer Emily Herbpst, who rides a mustang and is a small but mighty person who I have the feeling “don’t take no guff off a bartender.” (Thank you, Mr. McMurtry).

We got to meet them and their horses Ollie and Maverick at this year's National Western Stock Show in Denver. They were very gracious with their time to speak with us about the horses and Mounted Patrol unit. One of the most important things that these units do is what we saw them doing in spades at the National Western this year. They are incredibly effective goodwill ambassadors. They make the whole idea of the police department approachable. Young people and old, English speaking or Spanish or German, whether someone is from the city or a rural area – you name it, we saw all types of people come up and hold a hand up to the equine officers for a sniff. They were thronged. And with the horses there, people kind of forgot to be so reserved in front of the officers, who were all there in full gear with holstered gun and taser and pepper spray and bullet proof vests. In many towns, policing used to be more about the guy that keeps an eye on the community, but is a part of the community, walking about doing rounds on patrol. The officer in small towns often knew not only where you lived, but was likely to take you home to your mother for punishment if you gave him cause. How did we ever get away from all of that? It’s kind of sad, really. The police are supposed to be here as members of our communities, but often times all we hear about is the bad stuff.