The demand to join the mounted police has increased over the years. This is basically because the career offers a unique way of police service. Mounted police officers ride on horses and perform varied roles, but generally, they patrol in areas where there are large crowds to ensure public order; sometimes, they also appear on football games and other sport games to ensure the safety, peace and order, and most especially, they get to attend ceremonial activities which are considered as the “highest” duty.
In United Kingdom, the police forces utilized horses mainly for policing purposes. Mounted police officers, or equestrian officers, patrol on a horseback for several reasons. First, riding on horses gives a view point of more or less 8 feet high which allows the officer to spot unnecessary behaviours so he can easily stop it to avoid further damages; also, the officers can easily pick them up due to the height advantage. The mere presence of the mounted police officers as well may deter any indecent activities or behaviours as it can intimidate the offenders. Second, it is more practical to ride on horses especially in situations where police patrol cars cannot penetrate the location or a bit noisy for a police operation. This usually happens in times of dispersing a large riot crowd or just merely patrolling the parks to ensure and implement peace and order, or patrolling in wilderness. Third, the horses’ ability and agility to travel fast is also convenient for search and rescue operations. Most of the mounted police units across UK trained their horses for crime prevention purposes and actually, some of them hold public display of horses’ training along with the officers.
Apparently, mounted police officers’ main duty is policing in order to provide visibility in preventing or stopping crime activities and/or offenses which include, inter alia, robbery/theft of vehicular properties, disorderliness, and vandalism. In addition, they also make sure that public peace and order is observed especially during public assemblies and demonstrations where a peaceful gathering can turn into offensive and violent one. As a matter of fact, it is found out that a trained horse together with a trained mounted officer’s ability in dispersing large crowd is as comparable with a dozen of on foot police officers.
They are also present during football games and other sport matches to ensure that public order is implemented throughout the game. Although generally most crowds are passive and friendly, there are some occasions which they turn wild and violent. In this case, the mounted police officer comes in to settle the situation in a disciplined manner. During UK’s football season, the officers averagely police 3-4 times per week.
As they say, the highest profile of being a mounted police officer is to have to attend ceremonial activities or events which include from leading a group of tourist to escorting ceremonial military movements and even to escorting the Royalty. On several important occasions, the mounted police officers act as Sovereign Escorts during processions in times of Royal Weddings, Funerals, or Trooping of the Colour Ceremony. This means that they lead and tail the procession of several hundreds of soldiers together with the Cavalry and Coaches, that is why it involves a detailed planning as any unexpected or sudden alterations of the plan may proceed to disastrous outcomes.
Recently, our mounted police officers have been very busy and dedicated to performing their respective duties. As a matter of fact, on April 2 2011, during the one-hour political demonstration held in Blackburn, they helped to maintain the peace and order through forming a barrier that kept the oppositions at bay, and had arrested more or less 12 offenders for reasons of drunkenness and disorderly behavior. While on September 21 2011, the mounted police from Avon and Somerset together with the teams from Gloucestershire and Wiltshire Police did a five-day search and rescue operation for a missing teenager girl. The girl is from Richmond and has been found safe and well. And on November 22, 2011, 200 Sussex police officers including mounted police were deployed to the protest area for the acquittal of the case filed against the Brighton May Day protesters.
Mounted police is a very challenging career, and it only takes for the brave ones to accept the challenge.
