While today’s police officers normally drive police cars or ride bicycles, the Tempe Police Department’s Mounted Unit turns heads each weekend on Mill Avenue. The Mounted Unit patrols the area every Friday and Saturday night from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. The unit performs the duties of an average police force, such as crowd control and traffic regulation, all while on horseback.
This unit serves as a “force multiplier,” comparing the advantages of visibility, assertiveness and speed of a single officer on horseback with 10 officers on foot, according to the Tempe Police Department. All of the Mounted Unit Officers have dual assignments within the department, Tempe Police spokeswoman Molly Enright said.
“A single mounted officer can approach, assess, act and assert effective control over escalating situations with the goal of preventing serious injury or escalating violence,” Enright said.
The program came close to elimination in 2009 because of city budget cuts. Tempe residents ultimately voted for a tax override to support city positions, including positions in police and fire, Enright said.
Sgt. Heather Penner of the Tempe Police Mounted Unit stressed the importance of police presence among large crowds on Mill Avenue. Mounted officers are roughly 3 feet above a crowd, making them visible to Mill Avenue visitors and ensuring that people act appropriately, Penner said.
Penner has been with the Tempe Police Department for the past 13 years and a permanent mounted officer for the past two years.
Kelsey Roderique, journalism senior and president of the club Equestrian (Western) team, participated in a police demonstration that compared one police car with three policemen on horses in the middle of a mock riot.
The mounted police were able to maneuver through the crowd without a problem, while the car could not move without injuring a person, Roderique said.
Roderique credits the horse’s mobility to their physique and the natural curiosity humans have for horses, serving as a distraction for potential high-stress situations.
“Not only is (an officer on horseback) a way to get things under control, but it is a way to take a tension-filled situation and take it in an entirely different direction,” Roderique said.
For an officer to be considered a reserve rider or hold a full-time mounted position in the city of Tempe, he or she must complete and pass Mounted Officers Training. There is a requirement of 120 hours of training, according to the Tempe Police Department.
The Mounted Unit also holds specific temperament and size standards in selecting horses before the horses can begin their years of training with the master trainer.
“Horses are naturally herd animals and will run away from any kind of confrontation,” Penner said. “(The horses the Mounted Unit looks for) have to show that they’re a naturally inquisitive, curious and brave horse to be able to even be trainable in this line of work.”
The horses belonging to the Tempe Police Department are relatively large and have a height of 17 hands high, Penner said. These horses are also crossed with draft horses, which are commonly used to pull heavy loads.
In addition to patrolling Mill Avenue, the Mounted Unit patrols Kiwanis Park and Tempe Town Lake. The horses are stabled at Kiwanis Park, where they are given hundreds of hours each year of caring, feeding, cleaning and exercising by the mounted unit officers and sergeant.
According to the Tempe Police Department, its Mounted Unit was established in 1974 with two mounted officers. There are now six horses and two permanently assigned officers.
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