Mounted search and rescue

[RVASSER@aol.com]

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My dear Family, Friends, and Melrose Park Department of Public Safety-Homeland Security Staff ,

I would like to inform you that a recent series of business and personal circumstances have influenced my decision to officially bring my active service in the position of Captain of the Mounted Operations Division, Melrose Park Department of Public Safety-Homeland Security to a close. My last day of service with the department was on May 31, 2013.

I understand the necessary commitment and participation required to be an active member of a unique public safety department that is moving forward and positioning themselves to be "state of the art" ready to respond and serve. I'd hoped to be able to continue to participate in service and training with the department at a level consistent with my rank as Captain, but in light of recent developments this is simply not possible.

I'm now fulfilling the demanding and time consuming positions of Co-Founder and Principal Partner of The Chicago Horse Center, The Horse Media Network, and Equus Concepts, LLC.  I am also Vice President of A.L.E. Security Professional Inc., in charge of special security and  investigations. 

 I am very proud of the accomplishments that the entire Mounted Team have made, and the service and training that has enabled our mounted personnel to be certified in search & rescue operations and crowd control tactics as well as perform patrol details. I'd like to express my gratitude to David Cooper and Debbie Cowgur for their immense commitment and support in helping to establish the mounted department. I am eternally grateful to all of you for the time you've invested in training, serving, and standing by to respond.

I'm pleased that the Mounted Operations Division has some new personnel on board that can complement the mounted veterans with great ideas, energy and time to participate in making the mounted unit even better.  

Though my business enterprise could yield possible financial gains, it will pale in comparison to everything that I have experienced while training and serving with the department over the years. Working in broadcast television over the past 42 years I have enjoyed the job, money, and some of the prominence, but having the opportunity to serve the community with my horse "Sunburn" has brought me more pleasure than I ever could have imagined.

 

It was a very difficult decision for me to retire from my service with Melrose Public Safety-Homeland Security because I will truly miss all of the wonderful people that I worked with. 

I've often been asked over the years, "How can you work at a regular job and put in all of those hours in the public safety department and go on all of those details". My response is, the training, the respect, the honor and the opportunity to serve and protect our communities is, in my opinion, priceless.

It's not every day that someone like me can walk into a town like Melrose Park and upon finishing my term of service, the mayor knows me by my first name. I have had a wonderful journey. I would like to also express my gratitude to my wife Elizabeth for all of her support, understanding and tolerance for the many times that I have missed family events and holidays while serving with the department. I could not have made it this far without her. In return, I have been a source of pride to my family, friends and a champion in the eyes of my daughter Maya.    

With my deepest sincerity, I would like to thank Chief Philip C. Schwartz and the Melrose Park Department of Public Safety-Homeland Security for giving me the opportunity to serve in Melrose Park alongside some of the finest public safety personnel in the United States.

It is my sincere hope that I served with ability, dedication, and honor. As I leave my service with the Melrose Public Safety-Homeland Security Department, I will rest easy knowing that I was always a professional, a team player and I gave my best every time I went to work. 

Warmest regards,

Captain Ronald T. Vasser