Mounted police

Mounted police are police who patrol on horseback or camelback. Their day-to-day function is typically picturesque or ceremonial, but they are also employed in crowd control because of their mobile mass and height advantage and increasingly in the UK for crime prevention and high visibility policing roles. The added height and visibility that the horses give their riders allows officers to observe a wider area, and it also allows people in the wider area to see the officers, which helps deter crime and helps people find officers when they need them. When employed for crowd control, there is a risk that some people may be trampled (resulting in injuries or death). The officer riding the horse might or might not be held legally responsible for injuries depending upon the totality of the circumstances.
Mounted police may be employed for specialized duties ranging from patrol of parks and wilderness areas, where police cars would be impractical or noisy, to riot duty, where the horse serves to intimidate those whom it is desired to disperse through its larger size, or may be sent in to detain trouble makers or offenders from the crowd. For example, in the UK, mounted police are most often seen at football matches, although they are also a common sight on the streets of many towns and cities as a visible police presence and crime deterrent during the day and night. Some mounted police units are trained in search and rescue due to the horse's ability to travel where vehicles cannot.
The French Maréchaussée—direct predecessors of the gendarmerie and the first national police force in a modern sense—were a corps of completely mounted constabulary from their establishment in the early 18th century. Poor roads and extensive rural areas made horse-mounted police a necessity in European states until the early 20th century.
The establishment of organized law-enforcement bodies throughout Africa, Asia and the Americas during the colonial and post-colonial eras made the concept of predominantly horse-police accepted almost world-wide. Notable examples include the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Mexican Rurales, the Rhodesian British South Africa Police, the Turkish/Cypriot Zapiteh and the caballeria (mounted branch) of the Spanish Civil Guard.
Tack used by mounted police is similar to standard riding tack, with adaptations for police use. Synthetic saddles are often favored over those made of natural leather to reduce weight, important both because of long riding hours and because police officers must carry numerous articles of personal equipment. High-traction horseshoes made of speciality metals or fitted with rubber soles are typically used in urban areas in place of standard steel horseshoes, which are prone to slip on pavement. Rubber soled shoes also produce less noise than steel shoes and jar the hoof less.
Horses working in riot control wear facial armor, made of perspex so that the animals can still see. The officers themselves are often equipped with especially long wooden or polycarbonate batons for use on horseback, as standard patrol batons would have insufficient length to strike individuals at ground level.
Australia, being a large country and not densely populated, commonly used mounted police in order to traverse the country side. All of the Mounted police units were formed in the 19th century and have continued to this day, excepting Tasmania.
Mounted police units were used in Canada during the 19th century to carry out peace officer duties across vast and sparsely inhabited areas. The predecessors to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), the Royal North-West Mounted Police, relied on using mounted riders from its inception in 1873 to carry out their policing duties across the Prairies. These mounted police were frequently the only government officials in the area.
Police services in Montreal and Toronto also formed their own mounted police units in the 1880s to cover larger areas in their cities. The Service de police de la Ville de Montréal formed its cavalry unit in 1885 to patrol several roads and park and act as an express mail service between the service's stations. The Toronto Police Service formed its mounted unit in 1886 to provide a police presence in outlying areas of the city that seldom saw police prior to the unit's introduction. Both services also used their mounted units to enforce traffic laws during the early advent of automobilies.
The RNWMP's reliance on mounted police units declined significantly after the First World War due to automobiles. Although the RCMP's increasingly relied on motorised vehicles for its work in the 1920s and 1930s, equestrian training remained a centrepiece of its recruit training regimen at RCMP Training Academy until 1966. As of 2024, the RCMP maintains a single troop of 32 riders, the Musical Ride. However, they are an equestrian showcase unit that does not perform any regular police duties.
Municipal police services continued to use mounted police in the 1920s and 1930s for crowd management duties, with the Toronto Police Service and Vancouver Police Department's mounted units growing in size during the Great Depression due to the increasing demonstrations and riots taking place. Toronto and Vancouver's mounted units also saw significant use for crowd control during the 1960s and 1970s.
Police services in Calgary, Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver continue to maintain mounted units for community patrols and crowd management at large events. As of 2024, the Toronto Police Service Mounted Unit is Canada's largest mounted police unit that performs operational duties, made up of 24 horses. Toronto's mounted police unit is primarily tasked with community patrols, although they also conduct vehicular stops, assist with searches, and provide crowd management support, particularly in the city's Entertainment District.
The Kolkata Police maintain the Kolkata Mounted Police force which was established in 1840. As of 2024, it has a strength of 2 inspectors, one sergeant-major, 10 sergeants, one JCO, five head sowars, 85 sowars and 98 syces. The force operates 68 horses under 2 stables (one on S N Banerjee Road with a capacity of 70 and the other in Diamond Harbour with 32 horses). The force is deployed currently to regulate crowds in Maidan area in sporting and other events and also showcased in ceremonial events like Republic Day parade in front of Raj Bhavan.
The Royal Oman Police have many horse- and camel-mounted troopers.
There are thirteen mounted police sections in the UK. The mounted sections support policing in specialist operations, major incidents, and anti-social behaviour. A mounted officer's responsibilities may include liaising with rural and urban communities on horseback or situations that may attract large crowds such as at sporting and cultural events or at demonstrations. Mounted sections also participate in ceremonial duties. The Bow Street Horse Patrol, founded in 1763, are the oldest uniformed police force in the world. They were formally incorporated into the Metropolitan Police in 1836. Today the Metropolitan Police Mounted Branch is the mounted section of the Metropolitan Police, the police force of Greater London (excluding the City of London, where the separate City of London Police has its own mounted branch). The Metropolitan Police Mounted Branch undertakes crowd control duties, especially at football matches, but also conducts general street patrols and escorts the Royal Guard change at the London's royal residences.
Many cities in the United States have mounted units, New York having one of the largest with 55 horses as of 2016, The Houston, Texas Police Department's Mounted Patrol Unit was started in 1983 and now consists of 1 lieutenant, 4 sergeants and 24 officers. It has become increasingly well known due to the decision to remove the shoes of all its 38 mounted horses and embrace the concept of naturalizing their horses' diet and care.
Several American mounted units were disbanded or downsized in the 2010s. For example, units in Boston and San Diego were disbanded by 2011, while New York City's mounted unit was reduced considerably over the last decade with 79 police officers and 60 horses in 2011 – down from the 130 officers and 125 horses it had before the downsizing. Philadelphia's mounted police unit was disbanded in 2004, but reinstated in 2011 with four horses from the disbanding unit of Newark, New Jersey.
The United States Border Patrol had 200 horses in 2005. Most of these are employed along the U.S.–Mexico border. In Arizona, these animals are fed special processed feed pellets so that their wastes do not spread non-native plants in the national parks and wildlife areas they patrol.