ROCKFORD, Mich. (WOOD) — Three new members of the Kent County Sheriff’s Department will start working the beat later this summer. These rookies weigh over 1,500 pounds and can do 25 mph on foot.
Three new horses — Hank, Hugo and Hondo — were bred and trained at Kentucky’s Asbury University. They arrived at the end of April and are expected to join the nine other horses already on patrol in the Mounted Unit later this summer, Lt. Scott Swem said.
The Mounted Unit includes 15 full-time county personnel and 10 fully-trained volunteers providing law enforcement and safety detail at events in Grand Rapids and Kent County. The sheriff’s department is also now working with the Grand Rapids Police Department, which provides four more officers.
“We’re expanding, so when we started out several years ago, we did three or four events in the summer. Now it’s constant — we’re out every weekend,” Swem said.
You’ll see the Mounted Patrol at events like parades and festivals. They are often on patrol at Millennium Park in Walker and in Grand Rapids’ Arena District to keep control of the after-bar crowd.
Atop 4-year-old Hank, Sgt. Eric Rakow has a 10-foot high vantage point.
“We can see over the crowd and we can see people causing disturbances. Where if we’re on foot, we can only see through the crowd — we might miss something,” Rakow said.
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