| Unit Name: | Mounted Unit |
| Dates: | 1858–present[1] |
| Country: | United States |
| Agency: | New York City Police Department |
| Command Structure: | Special Operations Bureau[2] |
| Headquarters: | 550 W 54th St, New York, NY 10019 |
| Sworn Type Label: | Officers |
| Subunit Type Label: | Troops |
| Subunits: |
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| Current Commander: | Inspector Barry M. Gelbman[3] |
| Programmes: | --> |
| Vehicles: | Horse trailers, Ford F-250s, and other various support vehicles |
| Animals: | 55 Horses[4] |
The Mounted Unit is part of the Special Operations Bureau of the New York City Police Department (NYPD) and is one of the largest mounted police units in the United States. The Mounted Unit, referred to as "10 foot cops", is used as a crime deterrent and often deployed for crowd control at demonstrations, protests, concerts, sporting events, and parades throughout four of New York's five boroughs.[5] [6] Staten Island does not have a mounted unit troop.
The Mounted Unit was founded in 1858 to regulate and enforce traffic laws on horse riders and carriages on the streets of the city.
Staten Island once had mounted police at least prior to consolidating into New York City.[7] In 2015 the unit moved its headquarters and Troop B stables from Pier 76 in Hell's Kitchen to a new state-of-the-art stables located on the ground floor of the Mercedes House luxury apartment building and the adjacent Mercedes Manhattan dealership in the north part of the same neighborhood .[8]
Mostly raised in Pennsylvania, the horses don't begin training for the NYPD until they're fully grown. Members of the Mounted Unit will pick out around five to six horses at a time, bring them back to the unit's training facility in Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx and put them through a week or two of training.[9]
The Mounted Unit wears different uniforms than normal patrol officers.
Similar to the Highway Patrol, mounted unit officers normally wear blue NYPD helmets, Motor Vehicle Operator (MVO) breeches with a gold stripe, black leather jackets (in winter), and black riding boots.[10]
Mounted patrol officers are equipped with standard-issue Glock sidearms and a long wooden baton, although this equipment may change depending on conditions and mission.[11]