The entire Board can be contacted at [email protected] or individually:

Wade Crimbring, Corporal, Pennsylvania State Police (retired)
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Wade retired from the Pennsylvania State Police after 25 years of service. Through Wade’s 25 years as a Pennsylvania State Trooper, he was assigned to patrol for 7 years, during 5 of those years one of his duties was as a Mounted Unit Field Rider. Promoted to Corporal in 1993, he was assigned to the Tactical Mounted Unit as the Tactical Mounted Unit Supervisor, a position he held for 18 years. During Wade’s time as the supervisor of the PSP Tactical Mounted Unit, he assisted numerous agencies with starting and maintaining mounted units. Corporal Crimbring also developed or assisted in developing policies, standard operating procedures, and training for several agencies including New Jersey State Police, Philadelphia, Bethlehem, Allegheny Co., Pittsburgh Police Department, and PA Dept. of Corrections at Camp Hill, Graterford, and Rockview. In 2008, Wade co-founded the North American Mounted Unit Commanders Association with the goal of facilitating networking for mounted unit commanders throughout North America. Currently, Corporal Crimbring is developing a Park Ranger program for the City of Round Rock, Texas.

Taya Workum, Officer, Painesville Police Department, Ohio
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Taya is currently assigned as a Community Service Officer for the Painesville Police Department in Painesville, Ohio. She began her service in 2002, first with Willoughby Hills Police Department and now Painesville Police Department with experience in Patrol, Courts, Public Education, and Special Operations. Officer Workum is a certified Mounted Police Instructor for her unit and coordinates the Northern Ohio Mounted Mutual Aid Alliance, a regional collaboration of 8 units that supplies mounted services as needed in Northern Ohio. Officer Workum is also a state certified firefighter/paramedic and serves on her county’s Hazardous Materials Intervention Team.

Joseph Haertsch, Sergeant, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, California (Retired)
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Joe recently retired after thirty-one years with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. His mounted law enforcement career began in 1996 when he was accepted for a co-lateral assignment with the Mounted Enforcement Detail. In 2004, Sergeant Haertsch was selected to become the full-time Department Equestrian Supervisor with oversight of all Department mounted programs.  During the course of his career, he worked with his equine partners throughout the County of Los Angeles conducting pro-active patrol covering urban, suburban and rural areas. He has organized and supervised crowd management at large occurrences such as the Tournament of Roses Parade and disturbances following riotous sporting events. Sergeant Haertsch has represented the Sheriff’s Department on horseback at high profile ceremonial events from Sacramento to Taiwan.   He has worked various other assignments throughout the Department and spent four years assigned to the Training Bureau. Sergeant Haertsch served a combined twenty-four years of both active and reserve duty with the United States Air Force. He holds a Master’s Degree in Public Administration and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Criminal Justice from California State University at Long Beach.

Michael Leaser, Sergeant, Bethlehem Police Department, Pennsylvania
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Michael has been a Police Officer with the City of Bethlehem Police Department, Pennsylvania since 2004. He is currently assigned to the Special Services Platoon, Mounted Patrol Unit. Some of his current collateral duties within the Police Department are as a member of the Emergency Response Team since 2009, Recruitment Team since 2007, Firearms Instructor, and Glock handgun armorer. He was tasked to assist in establishing and implementing the Mounted Patrol since its creation in 2009. He is a 2010 Graduate of the University of Louisville, The Southern Police Institute Mounted Law Enforcement Instructor Course. Sergeant Leaser has been the Bethlehem Mounted Patrol’s Unit Instructor since 2010 along with being an active member with the North American Mounted Unit Commanders Association since 2009.

Graham Queen, Staff Sergeant, Toronto Police Service Mounted Unit
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Graham is currently the Operational Staff Sergeant in charge of the Toronto Police Service Mounted Unit and has been a member of service for 29 years.  The unit has 24 horses and 41 sworn and civilian personnel.  The unit operates within The Horse Palace, a building built in 1931 and still home to the Royal Winter and Agricultural Fair.  Graham has spent the past 6 years with the Mounted Unit and 7 years previously with the Police Dog Services Unit.  One of the main goals of the Toronto Mounted unit is to develop new training modules and to offer this training to outside services. The latest training classes developed are the:  Advanced Mounted Patrol and the Mounted Instructor’s Course.  The 2-week classes will be offered beginning in April 2017.

Sergeant Joey Eckhardt, Lexington Kentucky Police Department

Sergeant Eckhardt began his career in 1999 and served in several different special assignments with the Lexington Kentucky Police Department. As an officer, he was assigned to Patrol and Investigations as a Narcotics Detective. In 2008 he was promoted to the rank of sergeant. As a sergeant, he served in Patrol and the Bureau of Special Operations. The units he served in Special Operations were the department’s CLEAR Unit, which focuses on proactively solving community issues; Community Services and was the Assistant Commander of the Crisis Negotiations Unit. In 2012 he was given command of the Mounted Unit and sits on the board of the Unit’s non-profit organization. While assigned to the mounted unit he has become a proficient rider and assists in the training of new police horses. During his tenure with the Mounted Unit, it has been increased from two to seven officers, and the training documentation vastly improved. He also has an active role in planning and organizing numerous large scale police equine training events. These events include the Annual National Mounted Police Colloquium hosted by Lexington and the Kentucky Horse Park Police at the Kentucky Horse Park, North American Police Equestrian Championship, and the NAMUCA conference.

Lt. Chris Pena, Anaheim Police Department Mounted Enforcement Unit

Lieutenant Chris Peña is a 23 year veteran of the Anaheim (CA) Police Department’s Mounted Enforcement Unit. He graduated from Sacramento County Sheriff’s basic mounted school in 1996 and holds POST instructor certificates in Mounted Baton / Defensive Tactics, Mounted Patrol and Mobile Field Force/ Crowd Control. He is a founding member of the Orange County Regional Mounted Enforcement Unit as well as an instructor with the California Mounted Officers Association.

In 1997, Chris was part of a group of Southern California mounted officers who were invited to ride in the Presidential Inaugural Parade in Washington D.C. and in 2013, he and the Anaheim Mounted Unit rode in the Tournament of Roses Parade. In 2004, Chris was promoted to the rank of Sergeant and supervised the Mounted Unit for the next 10 years. In 2014, Chris was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant and now is the police department’s Mounted Unit Commander. He is an active police trail trials competitor and helps train mounted units throughout the state in mounted crowd control, baton and defensive tactics.

Chris was the 2016 California Mounted Officer of the Year and holds a Master’s Degree in Emergency Management and a Bachelor’s degree in Organizational Management.

Sergeant Joe Cummings, Parker Police Department in Colorado

Joe Cummings is currently Patrol Sergeant for the Parker Police Department in Colorado. He has been with his department for 22 years and is the Mounted Patrol Supervisor for his agency. Sgt. Cummings has over 33 years in Law Enforcement and has worked in several capacities including a multi-agency SWAT Team before starting the department’s Mounted Unit in 2016. Sgt. Cummings agency is unique in that the Officers own their own horses and lease them back to the city for duty time. Joe has been riding most of his adult life and enjoys riding the many trails in the Colorado Rockies and competing in local horse shows. He is a graduate of the Mounted Police Training Academy’s Police Mounted Instructor School.