HORSE LOVER'S LAW ENFORCEMENT CAREER EARNS ACCOLADES.

Byline: ERIC LEACH Staff Writer

VENTURA -- Jodi Keller grew up raising horses, so she established a special bond with the animals.

When she became a Ventura County sheriff's deputy in 1981, she brought her childhood passion with her, spending countless hours with the department's mounted equestrian team.

Earlier this month, she was rewarded for that commitment to her craft by receiving the California Mounted Officer Association's officer of the year award.

``It's nice that other organizations can recognize the worth and work of somebody like Jodi as much as we admire what she does for us,'' said Capt. Chris Lathrop, commander of the Ventura County sheriff's Mounted Enforcement Unit. ``Our department is very proud of her.''

Keller, 49, was chosen by the leaders of the officers in the state association, who cited her work with the organization and her efforts with the Sheriff's Department over the years.

Billie Patrick is a ranger in Yosemite National Park and president of the California Mounted Officers Association. She also won the group's officer of the year award in 2002.

Patrick said Keller put together the group's competition this year to test the skills of the mounted law enforcement officers on horseback, just one of the contributions she has made to the organization over the years.

``She's someone who is inspiring, she helps teach her fellow officers and she's easy to work with,'' Patrick said.

Patrick said about a half-dozen officers were nominated by the group's members this year, and Keller was selected because of her long-term support.

``She's extremely empathetic toward horses and sympathetic to their needs,'' Lathrop said. ``Jodi has a very close bond with every horse she's ever ridden.''

The equestrian training is highly specialized and includes the use of firearms while in the saddle. The horses are owned and cared for by members of the unit -- they are partners and depend on each other with their lives, Lathrop said.

Keller teaches mounted enforcement techniques to other law enforcement agents nationwide. She has also trained with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Locally, she helps train people in horseback riding for the Sheriff's Department's citizens academy, where regular people are taught crowd-control techniques and sometimes wind up working as volunteers with the sheriff's posse.

Keller has seen action as an equestrian officer at the 1984 Olympics, a Hells Angels rally, holiday shopping at the Camarillo Outlet Stores, the Ventura County Fair and political protests, including one at the 2000 Democratic National Convention.

She has used her horses to face crowds of rioters, catch gang members and burglary suspects, find marijuana plantations and rescue people lost in remote parts of the Ventura County mountains.

She has also taken her horses to hundreds of events at Ventura County schools to help students learn about their work in the Sheriff's Department.

Keller's most difficult moment on the equestrian unit was when she rode in August 1998 in the Mounted Honor Guard at the funeral for her friend, Senior Deputy Lisa Whitney, one of her partners on the equestrian team, who died in a car crash.

``It was very difficult and it's still hard,'' Keller said.

While some people think police mounted on horses have an intimidating effect on unruly crowds, Keller and Lathrop said it's really a calming effect.

``Nobody comes up and pets my patrol car, but they will come up and pet my horse,'' Keller said. ``Most people don't want to hurt an animal. They are more likely to hurt another human being than an animal.''

She recalled how she was interviewing a potentially hostile parolee whose daughter came up and started petting her horse. ``The parolee actually thanked me,'' she said. ``It was the coolest thing.''

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(1 -- color) Ventura County Sheriff's Department Senior Deputy Jody Keller puts a bridle on her horse, Justin, in Camarillo on Wednesday.

(2 -- 3 -- color) Below, Ventura County sheriff's Senior Deputy Jodi Keller uses her horse, Justin, to demonstrate the Mounted Enforcement Unit's crowd-control capabilities to cadets at the Ventura County Sheriff's Training Academy in Camarillo on Wednesday. At right, Justin sports a Ventura County Sheriff's Department badge.

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer