Briefing Room

Operations Support

Written by:
Sergeant Robert Dietrich,
Fort lauderdale Mounted Police Unit

INTRODUCTION

A well trained Mounted Police Officer and horse combine several unique assets which make it a very valuable and successful front line tool for law enforcement agencies. The Mounted Unit is extremely useful when high profile police presence is a must. Mounted officers are better suited for crowd control situations where the use of foot patrol officers is not desirable or effective. It is said that one Mounted Officer is able to out perform ten officers on foot when moving large crowds of people.

Frequent training is the key to the success of any Mounted Unit. When called upon to perform any duty from routine patrol functions to crowd control both the officers and their horses must be ready. In order for the officers and horses to be ready to perform whatever their duty assignment is, they must be trained properly. This will ensure that the agencies liability is reduced to a minimum and that the job will get done effectively and efficiently.

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

Officers and their mounts will receive the proper training which will enable them to perform police duties in the urban area. Simply put this means that the mounted officers will work the street in and around every day activities and noises which horses are not accustomed to. Officers will be able to maneuver the horse in areas of heavy traffic by both vehicles and people easily and without incident.

Officers and their mounts will also receive training in arrest and search techniques, traffic stops, ticket writing, and other law enforcement activities including crowd control and the various methods of moving large numbers of people with minimal force.

Mounted officers will train whenever organized Field Force Training takes place in Broward County. It is a proven fact that Mounted Officers are very effective when used in conjunction with field force units in civil disturbances.

Officers and their mounts should receive structured training in equitation, sensory training ( obstacles, noise, gunfire, firecrackers, smoke, as well as police related activities at least twice per month and no less that once per month.

Repetition is essential to mounted police training.

OUTLINE FOR MOUNTED POLICE TRAINING

1. Warm up drills and equitation exercises
   1. Walk, trot, and canter in left hand circle around ring
   2. Walk, trot, and canter in right hand circle around ring
   3. Full and half pass to the left drill
   4. Full and half pass to the right drill
   5. Backing up drills
2. Line up drills
   1. Riders will line up in a single line and count off by the numbers
   2. Even numbered horses will always be on the left side of the odd numbered horses when riding in column formations.
   3. The number 1 horse will always lead the right side column and all single column movements
   4. The number 2 horse will always lead the left side column and will follow the number 1 horse in all single column movements
   5. Riders will learn all line up drills
      1. Single column of troopers
      2. Column of twos
      3. Column of fours
      4. Column of eights

3. Formation riding
   1. All mounted police movements will be practiced in a formation with proper spacing and distance adhered to
      1. Single column movements horses will be one horse length apart when following another horse
      2. Column of twos or more all horses are "boot to boot" apart when along side each other and one horse length apart when following another horse
      3. Column of fours and eights is the same as above
      4. Supervisors position in all maneuvers and formations
   2. Typical formations
      1. Single file line
      2. Side by side line
      3. Column formations
      4. Flying wedge
      5. Box formation
      6. Diamond formation
   3. Turning in formation
      1. Column left
      2. Column right
      3. Column left about
      4. Column right about
      5. Column left and right about
      6. Left flank
      7. Right flank
      8. Pass through ranks
   4. Forming lines from single column of troopers
      1. Left into line
      2. Right into line
   5. Forming lines from column of twos
      1. Form a line - Horses in the right column form a line from the right side of the number one horse and horses in the left column form a line to the left side of the number two horse
   6. Return to a column of twos from a line

4. Crowd Control Movements
   1. Perform various Crowd Control movements
      1. Line
      2. Wedge
         1. Additions to line and wedge movements using wing (column) and back up lines
      3. Left Diagonal
      4. Right Diagonal
      5. Split Diagonal
      6. Left and Right Oblique
      7. Interlock
      8. Side pass left and right
      9. Supervisor position
   2. Moving from one crowd control movement to another
   3. Returning from formation or crowd control movement to original position.
   4. Vehicle and Person Extrications
      1. Approach from front (vehicle extraction)
      2. Approach from rear (vehicle push through)
      3. Officer next to driver will issue all commands to driver
      4. Person extrications same as vehicle
      5. Supervisor position

5. Sensory Training & Obstacles
   1. Noise
      1. Car & Truck horns
      2. Police sirens
      3. Loud music and crowd noise
      4. Firecrackers
      5. Gunfire
      6. Motorcycles and loud trucks and machinery
   2. Visual
      1. Police overhead lights
      2. Smoke
      3. Signs and banners
      4. Balloons, umbrellas, etc.
      5. Things blowing across the ground
      6. Fire
   3. Obstacles
      1. Tires
      2. Step over poles on the ground
      3. Low jumps
      4. Shopping cart monster
      5. Car wash obstacle
      6. See-saw bridge
      7. Climb steps and jump off platform
      8. Jug of noise (pull off pole and drag across ground)
      9. Walk over strange items on the ground
      10. Back up through "L"
      11. Cross over railroad tracks and draw bridges

   Note:
   These are but a few obstacles horses can come in contact with in their every day police duties. Things on the ground are the most bothersome and difficult for the horse to overcome.

6. Policing from horseback
   1. Approaching suspects
      1. One horse approach
         1. Use available barriers such as autos, fences, buildings
      2. Two horse approach
         1. use proper positioning
         2. one officer will issue all commands to suspect
   2. Arrest & Search Techniques
      1. One horse
      2. Two horse
   3. Handcuffing techniques
      1. One horse
      2. Two horse

7. Search techniques
   1. Searching for wanted persons
      1. Obtain name and description
      2. Ascertain if subject is armed
      3. Assign available personnel to specific areas
      4. Two horse teams preferred when searching for wanted persons
      5. Watch for signs of horse alerting on something
   2. Searching for lost or missing persons
      1. Obtain name and description
      2. Assign available personnel to specific areas
      3. One horse per area is preferred in order to quickly cover as much area as possible
      4. Watch for horse alerting
   3. Searching for Objects
      1. Obtain description of object
      2. Decide on type of search pattern
         1. line search
         2. grid search
      3. Select one officer to collect all evidence

CONCLUSION

As one can see the training that goes into a Mounted Police Unit is comprehensive and structured. The strengths of this type of police unit can only be effective if constant training is authorized. Repetitive training is essential in order for both horse and rider to be prepared to undertake any assignment they are given.

Training of this type should be done a minimum of once a month (twice a month is preferred when time permits) in order to keep the necessary skill level at its highest.

Briefing Room

Operations Support