Mounted Search & Rescue Team services being offered to area counties

Brad Farr, Zack Farr, Sarah Simmons participating in mock search and rescue. Photo courtesy Brown County Sheriff's Dept. — Brad Farr, Zack Farr, Sarah Simmons participating in mock search and rescue. Photo courtesy Brown County Sheriff’s Dept.

A group of horse riders are hoping to be the difference when it comes to searching for individuals who go missing in rural places.

The Brown County Sheriff’s Office is offering the service of its Mounted Search and Rescue Unit to area agencies that may one day need help locating children who are lost, elderly people with Alzheimer’s, disoriented individuals or other victims.

“Maybe a child wanders off. Especially in an agricultural community like we have; as the summer gets longer the corn gets taller,” said John Merchant, Brown County Sheriff. “We have the ability to activate this team and they’ll bring out their horses. They have the ability to cover a lot of ground, a large vantage point on top of the horse and the horses even pick up on humans.”

Sheriff Merchant said the group of mounted volunteers was formed in 2014. He said the sheriff’s department wants to make sure other area agencies know if needed, the group is willing to assist.

Jeff Spiker is the President of the Brown County Mounted Search and Rescue Group. He said the group consists of around a dozen riders who are trained and certified.

Jeff Spiker participating in mock search and rescue. Photo courtesy Brown County Sheriff's Dept. — Jeff Spiker participating in mock search and rescue. Photo courtesy Brown County Sheriff’s Dept.

“Horses and riders have to go through a series of courses,” Spiker said. “Everybody that we have ,currently are from Brown County or Doniphan County.”

Spiker said the group meets every quarter for meetings and participates in mock rescues two to three times each year. The most recent mock rescue was held April 30 at the Brown State Lake. The group went through two training scenarios in an attempt to locate a missing 5-year-old hearing impaired child (portrayed by Andrew Clary of Hiawatha) who had wandered off and could not be located..

“We wanted to make it as difficult as possible and we didn’t want to put any children out there,” Sheriff Merchant said. “We basically had him go find some of the roughest terrain and heaviest brush and everything else and gave him a blanket and said you just lay there and let them find you. So he went and hid and we gathered up all the riders.”

Sheriff Merchant said on the first scenario he was found in the first 25 minutes and the horse actually alerted the rider of his presence in the brush.

The group has not yet been used in a real-life situation. Spiker said the group was activated last year for a search but before they were deployed the individual had been found.

Anyone in need of the Brown County Mounted Search and Rescue Team or who would like to join to assist the team in a time of need is asked to call the Brown County Sheriff’s Department. Sheriff Merchant said because the group is made up of volunteers it will not be used in a situation that could be life-threatening for the searchers.