Still, every time secondary education senior Brent Castine sees the officers perched on top of police horses, he isn’t filled with fear of getting in trouble with the law. Instead, he can’t help but laugh.

“During Welcome (Weekend), we saw some kid just booking it down the street, just sprinting in flip flops,” Castine said, through fits of laughter. “Two seconds later, this horse cop came trotting after him; it was the funniest thing we’ve ever seen.”

Although the Ingham County Sheriff’s Office’s Mounted Unit might not be scary to all of MSU’s students, Castine said when you’re underage, they definitely are intimidating.

The unit is hired by the city of East Lansing for most home-game weekends, patrolling the streets for pedestrians breaking laws relating to alcohol and partying.

Most of the officers who are out looking for students horsing around on the streets of East Lansing are not full-time officers, said Capt. Bryan Miller of the Ingham County Sheriff’s Office.

Miller, a contractor by day, is one of about six officers who usually patrols the city on football weekends.

He has been an officer within the Mounted Unit for about 15 years and has been riding his sandy and white horse, Danno, 16, for about six years.

“Horses are very effective in controlling crowds,” Miller said, explaining the benefits of patrolling with a horse. “We can see the long distance because we’re up high. That gives us an advantage with a horse; and the gas mileage is a lot better.”

Although the city of East Lansing does pay the unit to patrol, Miller said any money his unit makes does not go into the pockets of the officers.

“We volunteer for this. The service funds that are collected by the unit go out to charities,” Miller said, adding everyone who works in the department trains and brings their personal horses to patrol.

Most of the organizations that receive donations from the department are focused on helping children in some way, including Highfields Camp and Red Cedar Elementary School.

“We worked the Ingham County Fair this year, and we had a little girl have a seizure,” said officer Ken Johnson, who was sworn into the unit about two months ago. “We happened to be in the right place at the right time … Any time we have the chance to help kids, that’s huge.”