Madison Reporter

The Madison Police Department's Mounted Patrol Unit is set to add several new members after they completed a month-long training program.

"It's not like he's a tool; he's a partner and we're here together," Officer Jessica Wolf recently told WMTV after completing the program with a Percheron-Friesian gelding named Chevy by her side.

Wolf noted that she knows all too well what patrolling neighborhoods could be like if officers didn't have their stable of horses to work with.  

"The horses help the department engage with the community," she said. "I had some difficulties in certain neighborhoods, trying to get people out and about and even to say hello to me. When they see us in neighborhoods, they're always like, 'What’s wrong?'"

MPD Officer Ken Mulry, now in his 13th year of serving on horseback, takes it even a step further.

"It's like a big, black, furry magnet that we just sit on, and it brings the public to us," he told WMTV. "They can ask us questions. They see that we're human beings just like them."

With this year's new members, Mulry and company expect the unit to be even more capable and equipped to handle such added duties as crowd management and rescue operations.

"We have to take officers that are already good police officers and now make them a horseman or a horsewoman," he said. "There's a whole lot to it to keep them safe, to keep our horses safe, but most importantly to keep the public safe."

Following a final assessment, new members are slated to hit the streets with a veteran officer for at least a week of added field training.

"We're available for anything, and we're excited to go out there and help," Wolf told WMTV.