AUSTIN, Texas — There is a good chance you have seen the Austin Police Department’s Mounted Patrol Unit around town. But do you really know what they do?
These officers have a unique role and go all over the city, but most people see them downtown.
Senior Officer Amanda Santeford and her horse, Breezy, patrol the streets of Austin with their counterparts, Officer Fuller and Cowboy. They are a part of the 13 officers and 16 horses that make up the unit, which helps with everything from search-and-rescue operations to their most prominent function, crowd control.
The unit patrols the city every day and, on weekend nights, you will see them on Sixth Street.
“I've been an officer on foot on Sixth Street before, and I know what it feels like to have the crowd moving in on your back and then having the horses make that space,” Santeford said.
One horse and an officer are said to be equal to 10 officers on foot.
“So, when we're working in a crowd situation, me going up to 100 people, it's not very intimidating,” Santeford said. “Ten of us, it's like 100 officers coming at you.”
Cowboy is a veteran horse on the unit, while Breezy is the newest addition to the team. She is still training on days and will then be tested on the night shift on Sixth Street.
Some officers, like Santeford, grew up riding horses, but many officers learn once they join the unit.
The horses live at a facility in Cedar Creek where they have room to roam. Each officer is responsible for caring for their own horse.
“We're mucking out stalls, feeding horses, picking feet, cleaning horses, washing horses," Santeford said.
There is hard work done in the stalls and on the streets.
On Thanksgiving 2014, a man went on a shooting spree in Downtown Austin, firing at several buildings, including the APD headquarters. That’s where Santeford and her horse had just arrived when she and the rest of the Mounted Patrol Unit finished up their shift on Sixth Street.
That’s when she and her horse heard gunfire.
“I remember turning back to him and his eyes were huge and his nostrils were huge and he's like, 'I'm not going out there.' And I just remember saying to him, 'I'm sorry, buddy, we got to go,'" Santeford said.
But as they were headed that way, Santeford's fellow mounted patrol officer, Sgt. Adam Johnson, shot and killed the suspect while holding two horses in one hand and shooting with the other.
“Sgt. Johnson is very humble about the experience,” Santeford said. “Because that was quite a shot. It was 300-some feet away, one shot”
These officers and horses are always ready for any situation, just like they were that night. But when KVUE's Conner Board interviewed them for this story, they were getting to do one of their favorite parts of the job: bonding with the people in the community.
“It's really hard to go up to a cop in a car with the windows rolled up as he's driving by. But everybody wants to come up and say hi to these guys,” Santeford said.
Once the horses have served their time with the APD, the officers sometimes adopt the horses and take them home or they go back to the original owner the department purchased them from. They say making sure the horses have a relaxing retirement is a priority.
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