Lake County law-enforcement pair saddle up and ride to honor fallen officers in Cleveland police parade

For two Lake County law enforcement officers, a hobby that’s brought them closer as a couple has also brought them closer to the communities they serve and offers the pair an opportunity to honor their colleagues, past and present, during Cleveland’s annual police parade.

Madison Township Police Chief Matthew Byers and wife Taya Workum, who is a community service office with the Painesville Police Department, are also dedicated equestrians and have been able to incorporate their involvement with horses into their involvement with law enforcement and community policing.

In few places is this combination as apropos as during the Greater Cleveland Peace Officers Memorial Service and parade, which took place May 18.

Workum said she’s been riding a horse in the parade since the late-1990s and Byers since 2008.

As they readied their steeds in front of FirstEnergy Stadium before the parade stepped off May 18, Byers and Workum reflected on the unique opportunities the combination of horseback riding and law enforcement afford them.

“Horses are very approachable, more so than an officer on a bicycle, on foot or in a car,” Byers said as he saddled up his steed, Opel. “They break the ice and they bring the families, their children, forward and that starts the conversation with us.”

Workum concurred.

“We constantly have families: parents, children, other - just individual - folks wanting to pet the horses, wanting to know a horse’s name,” she said.

Byers said that, just the previous week, when he and Workum took vacation time to participate in the National Police Week observances around Washington, D.C., the horses drew enough attention from a bus driver that the driver stopped in the middle of the road to ask Byers about Opel.

“Last week when we were in Washington D.C. we were tacking on the side of the road, just like this — preparing for one of the events — and the driver of one of the red, double-decker D.C. buses — that was full (of passengers) — just stopped in the middle of the street to ask me my horse’s name,” Byers recalled with a chuckle. “So, you know, there it is: It just makes us very approachable.”

Running between the staging area and the end of the parade route, there were ample opportunities to see, firsthand, just how enamored folks seem to bee with mounted officers.

By the time they got to Huntington Park’s Peace Officers Memorial, a handful of attendees were interacting with Byers, Workum and the other horse-riding representatives in the parade, taking pictures, talking horse-shop and just generally showing interest in the equine contingent of the event.

“It’s a wonderful PR tool,’ Byers said. “It’s probably the best PR tool. I mean, it’s kind of cliché, but no one’s ever asked me to pet my police car.”

But the horses Byers, Workum and the other mounted officers around Northeast Ohio and beyond partner up with are far from just good public relations tools. They’re highly trained, highly capable public safety employees in their own right.

“These horses aren’t just PR horses,” Byers said. “They’re highly trained, certified police horses. They do crowd control, riot work and all that,” he said. “Obviously, it takes special horses to do this. And these horses are constantly in training. We go through state certification and training with them every year to be able to maintain their certification as police horses.”

He added that they participate in various Athens, Ohio-based events - like Ohio University’s noteworthy Halloween celebration and other OU-based events which can get pretty rowdy, to say the least.

“So these horses have all done high-level, crowd-control police work,” Byers said. “They don’t just do parades and get petted. They’ve worked riots and crowd control and have dealt with some pretty hairy circumstances. They’re experienced, working police horses.”

Another thing Byers mentioned, which illustrates his, Workum’s and likely other mounted officers’ dedication is that, for the most part, they do their horse-detail stuff on their own time, with their own dimes.

“We’re both on vacation today,” Byers said. “In fact, most of the stuff we’re doing — most of the mounted stuff — we pay for it ourselves. Our agencies don’t pay for any of that and no tax dollars are involved, even today.”

Byers and Workum were far from the only participants with a passion May 18. Lake County Deputy Sheriff James Wheeler has for man y years been organizing an outstanding detail of the police parade; the huge flag, carried by about three dozen public safety personnel in the parade.

Wheeler had to sit out during last year’s parade, due to being in recovery from an ankle injury. He was back at it May 18, however, and as proud as ever to have taken part in what he said he considers a great honor.

“It went very well,” Wheeler said as the parade was winding down and before the memorial service commenced. “We couldn’t have asked for a better day. But we were obviously here for a solemn reason - to remember those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice to protect and serve their community. The solemn meaning of the phrase that they will be remembered and that they will never be forgotten is what this is all about. I guess that’s the real, core reason we all come here, along with officers from all over Ohio, New York Canada and many other places. It really is a tribute and, as always, I’m so glad to see so much support.”

As the parade stepped off from its staging area about 10:30 a.m., hundreds of spectators lined Superior Avenue to show their support.

Cleveland resident Lisa Patch and 4-year-old son, John Jr. were two of them.

Patch said she and her son make it a point to attend the event every year.

“It’s become kind of a tradition now. We’ve been coming ever since he was born,” she said, adding that she has law enforcement personnel in her own family. “It’s a nice way to support the police.”

She said the pair like to attend the memorial service at Huntington Park following the parade, as well.

“(We come) because they do some of the toughest jobs people can do, with the least amount of gratitude sometimes, especially nowadays,” she said. “And it’s nice to see all the different police districts, from all over the country and even from other countries get together like this. “And it’s a good thing to show your kids, too.”

When asked about his favorite part of the day, John Jr. said “I like the 21-gun salute the best.”

“It’s really cool to see al the different kinds of public safety vehicles, too,” his mom said of the various SWAT and other tactical response vehicles that partake in the parade. “They’re something you don’t normally get to see - and probably wouldn’t want to see, other than at a parade like this.”

But, then again, there are the horses.

As far as the parade goes, both Byers and Workum Both agreed the parade’s a great way to combine their love of riding with their desire to honor law enforcement officers who have gone before them.

“It’s a way for us to honor those police officers who were forced to give their lives up in the course of their duties,” Workum said.

Byers concurred.

“And it’s a way to honor their families and our coworkers,” he said.

Workum also said there’s nothing quite like a horse when it comes to dealing with a loss.

“There’s a lot of healing power in horses,” she said.

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