Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2012

Four-legged recruit joins force

The Raleigh Police Department welcomed its newest recruit this month: a 7-year-old horse donated to the city’s mounted patrol unit.

Trainers will spend six to eight months preparing the gelding for his duties. They will expose the animal to gunshots, blue lights, sirens and traffic cones to help him become familiar with sights and sounds he may encounter while on patrol.

Police took the horse, named Major, to the First Night Raleigh celebration on New Year’s Eve and came away impressed with his temperament, said Lt. Tim Tomczak.

“He’s still got some learning to do,” Tomczak said. “(But) he did very well.”

The department has four horses in its mounted unit, but one, Cody, is nearing retirement age.

Officers went online to search for a replacement. They found Martha Burke, a Virginia woman who had bought the horse for her husband. The horse had little training, and Burke’s husband was new to riding, so the family opted to make a donation, Raleigh police officials said.

Major’s breed, known as draft cross, works well for police because the horses are large and intimidating but also known for their laid-back disposition and mild manners.

Mounted patrol officers are perhaps best known for handling crowd control at downtown events. But officers also are trained in how to make arrests and hand out parking tickets – all while sitting in the saddle.

Tomczak said he encourages officers to take the horses to new parts of the city as often as possible. Horses are particularly useful in patrolling parks and greenways, he said.