Sheriff provides mounted patrol of downtown

Mounted patrol units from the Carson City Sheriff’s Office will be active in downtown Carson City this summer, according to a press release issued by Sheriff Ken Furlong.

“The Carson City sheriff is pleased to announce the activation of an enhanced summer downtown patrol effort that now includes the presence of the Sheriff’s Mounted Unit,” Furlong said. “With the assistance of the department’s Traffic Enforcement Team, this two-year-long initiative was implemented (June 30) by having a team of mounted unit officers added to the regular patrol coverage of the area.

“The new additional coverage will provide periodic enhanced evening hours presence in the downtown corridor designed to deter challenges, or in some cases respond to calls for service.”

Furlong said the idea for the mounted patrol downtown was developed in winter 2022.

“However, at the time, the department realized that sufficient trained personnel were not available to provide the coverage during the summer of 2022,” he said. “As deputies were becoming certified this spring, the sheriff’s administration also reached out to the local entertainment businesses in the downtown area to discuss other opportunities where business and law enforcement could work closer together to create a safer evening atmosphere.”

Furlong said the mounted units, to be scheduled periodically, will patrol entertainment areas.

“While use of the mounted teams has long been assigned to support larger events, this initiative is designed to be a regular appearance, sometimes even just an afternoon support, such as was fielded Saturday, June 30,” he said. “These patrol units will normally consist of a full-time deputy sheriff, a reserve deputy sheriff and a mounted auxiliary support person. With this combination of effort, the team can address any issues that may arise.”