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Ask Officer Neal Dicken about his partner, Betty, and his otherwise indifferent expression cracks into a smile. He’s been with Betty for 12 years now. They share a twenty acre farm nestled in the hills. The two have traveled all over the country together--Oklahoma City, Nashville, Toronto, Washington D.C. He becomes most animated when he is talking about her. “She’s what we call a hot blood,” he says. “Betty tends to get impatient, wants to do everything now. She likes to move.” “She’s very trusting of me,” he smiles. One more thing. Betty is a horse. Officer Dicken is a mounted officer; the program drew him to join the Athens police force in 1997 after a 15-year stint in carpentry. There is no doubt how much he loves his horse. He talks to her as he grooms her , asking her opinion on various things.

“Isn’t that right, Betty?” Like all mounted officers, he is extremely committed to his work. The Athens mounted program is an overtime program, which means that hours done on horseback do not count toward the week’s quota. By the time Officer Dicken begins patrolling uptown on weekends, he has already finished an 8-hour shift in a cruiser. It’s a 16-hour day. “The officers that are in the mounted program are very devoted to the program and the horses,” explained Dicken. “To do that type of hours on horses and the bad weather and everything else...but every one of them just loves it.” They are indeed a league of their own. Over the past years, Officer Dicken has formed relationships with mounted officers from all over the state. It began out of necessity--the need was too large for the small mounted patrols. Instead,

extra officers would come to Athens on the busiest weekends of the year to help support local law enforcement. They have been coming for years. Some are a bit older than Dicken, others are slightly younger. They are similar to him in many ways--devoted to their horses, passionate about serving people, generally fun-loving. Now, Athens policemen have culled the best for their skills and personalities. The mountie clique has become a sort of elite club, with Officer Dicken as its president. If he sees a recruit that shows enough personality and adequate skill, he will invite him into the fold. “Membership is by invitation only,” boasts Dicken. “We have lots of people that just beg to come down here and work with us, but it’s very close knit and we don’t just open it up to any mounted police officer to come down.” “Cops are generally a close community anyhow,

Partners in CrimeTo Mounted Officer Neal Dicken, Betty is far more than a horse--she’s his partner.

Officer Neal Dicken fills a water bucket for Betty at the Athens Fairgrounds. The Fairgrounds serves as a home base for the mounted officers when they do extended patrols.

Officer Dicken brushes Betty before a patrol. Betty waits to be groomed in her stall at the Athens Fairgrounds.

Story and photos by Becca Quint

but cops on horses are an even closer community.” Just listening into the conversation, one can tell these guys have missed each other. The officers gather together before the start of a patrol to eat a meal together and shoot the breeze. As the door opens, raucous laughter fills the room, playful jokes bouncing from wall to wall. Horse talk abounds as the officers catch up with one another, telling war stories of arrests and citations and crazy teenagers, each trying to outdo the other before heading out to the streets. Once there, they become all business. Years of experience have taught these officers how to adjust to a vast variety of situations. They are continually in contact, moving together with their horses as a single unit, communicating constantly with their eyes. Rarely do things go wrong, but when they do, these officers are ready. Most of the time though, the officers simply ride a circuit, pausing here or there to flash a light in a dark alley before pausing off to one side. Most nights, their main purpose is to be a deterrent, and to simply be available. “We’re more approachable,” explained Dicken. “The horses are the catalyst for the students to come talk to us.” And they come in droves, drawn by Betty. Stand near Betty for an hour of patrol on an average night, and you are guaranteed to hear one question, repeated at least five times by five different people. “Can I pet your horse?” Often, a tipsy girl will come along, fawning over Betty and carrying on about just how beautiful she is and wow, Officer Dicken is such a lucky guy, I mean, what a cool job. It gets repetitive. “Isn’t this the best job ever? You get to

ride a horse!” slurs one girl. “I would be beyond excited.” The repetitiveness and lack of obvious impact might be frustrating to some, but Dicken doesn’t mind. He explains that studies published in the research journal Justice Quarterly have proven how police presence statistically lowers crime rates in the immediate area. That knowledge, and hearing girls fawn over Betty always puts him in a good mood. He even gets a touch emotional when talking about how kind the students have been to her. “It’s very touching because most of the students we deal with, they know the horses’ names,” he says. “They don’t really know anything about the officer, but they consider the horses as being one of theirs. They are very, very protective of the horses. When we had the problems on Palmerfest a few years ago and a few of the horses got injured, I’ve never had so many students apologize. It was very touching that they were that concerned.” In a very big way over these last 12 years, she has become a part of him, more symbionts than separates. “When I’m on her back, she’s bold. There’s certain things that she will do with ease with me on her back but if I get off of her and ask her to do that without me being on her back, then she’ll refuse or balk at it,” says Dicken. “That’s why we always consider ourselves as being partners.”

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A team of officers stands watch over Court Street during the annual Athens Halloween block party. “90 percent of our function on Halloween is being visible and crowd control,” said Officer Dicken. “The visibility cuts down on fights, assaults and so forth.”

Various crests and logos adorn clothing at a dinner gathering. Policemen from all over Ohio come to reinforce local police duting Athens’ biggest parties. Here (top to bottom), Fairfield County, Athens County and Franklin County are represented. Several officers also come from Summit and Belmont counties. Likewise, Athens mounted officers often travel to assist these same policemen.

A team of officers stands watch over Court Street during the annual Athens Halloween block party. “90 percent of our function on Halloween is being visible and crowd control,” said Officer Dicken. “The visibility cuts down on fights, assaults and so forth.”

Officer Dicken converses with Halloween partygoers during Athens’ annual Halloween block party. “It gets so that we know their faces quite well,” he says of the students. “But then again it’s kind of a revolving door type thing where one or two years and they’re gone and another group is coming in.”