Urban cowboys! Inside the wild world of NYPD horse cops
It might seem like an easy gig to be a horse cop — but neigh!
Six new NYPD mounted unit officers are undergoing a rigorous 3-to-6-month training program in the Bronx to build up their horses’ chaos sensory tolerance before they can be enlisted to hoof it through the wild streets of Times Square.
To ease the transition from bucolic to bustling, the four-legged crime fighters are blasted with audio recordings ranging from bagpipes to helicopters at the unit’s training facility in Pelham Bay Park, police in the unit said Thursday during a tour of the grounds.
The highly sensitive animals are also exposed to the sound of gunfire, trotted through hanging foam curtains and across zebra-striped platforms to get them ready for patrol, the officers said.
But it takes a special breed to patrol the concrete jungle.
“Not every horse can tolerate the New York City urban environment. We look for a braver, calmer demeanor,” said mounted officer and trainer Alban Kalaj. “We just gradually build them from the ground up.”
The NYPD has one of the biggest mounted units in the US, with a fleet of roughly 50 hard-working horses.
The hot-to-trot heroes are all fixed males, generally over age 10, and have retired from sleepy farms or sanctuaries upstate and New Jersey.
The height of the equine officers — known as “10 foot cops” — helps with crowd control at events such as protests and parades and serves as a highly visible crime deterrent, police said.
Cops on horseback can also reach areas inaccessible by car, which has proven handy during chases and rescues.
“In New York City bumper-to-bumper traffic, horses can easily go through those traffic scenarios, said Kalaj. “Mobility-wise, there’s definitely advantages.”
Kalaj, who was training horses named Chubs and Budweiser Thursday, said there’s also an element of animal charm that helps with community outreach.
“We’re definitely good-vibe purveyors,” Kalaj said. “People love seeing horses. Kids love seeing horses.”
“We could be standing in Times Square and there could be a line of cops there. For whatever reason, people approach us before they go to the footpost or police car,” said officer Andi Gjeci, who also works as a mounted unit officer and trainer. “We’re just more approachable.”
Most police officers accepted into the unit have little to no equine experience before going through the NYPD’s School of Horsemanship’s 3-to-6 month program.
“It’s like dealing with little kids. They’re always going to test you, they’re always going to try to do things, but ultimately they’re going to look to you for direction,” said Gjeci.
If a horse doesn’t make it through the training program, it is returned to the vendor or sanctuary where it came from.
If they pass, they’re outfitted with special Drill Tec horseshoes with a special protective grip for pounding the pavement.
In the past, police horses have also been dispatched to help on other missions such as shootings, bank robberies and search and rescues, according to the NYPD.
In December, two mounted police officers saved a Brooklyn boy with special needs from being hit by oncoming traffic by cutting in front of him on horseback and using the animals to shield him from traffic.
His grateful father, Vladimir Lempert, later told amNY the horses and their partners, Officer Thomas Schmeltzer and Detective Amy Suarez, “came in like angels.”
In May 2011, two street vendors in Times Square were able to quickly report smoke they saw billowing from a crude car bomb after they spotted mounted cops sitting on horseback high above the crowd.
Former NYPD police commissioner Ray Kelly once called the department’s police horses “the most photographed piece of equipment we have” while former commissioner Paul Browne dubbed them “tremendous ambassadors of goodwill.”
