Q. How long has the LVMPD had a Mounted Unit?
A. The LVMPD Mounted Unit was established July 31, 1998.

Q. How many horses and Officers do you have?
A. MPU currently has 11 horses and 7 full-time Officers.

Q. Do the horses get too hot to ride in the summer?
A. No, a horse's body temperature averages between 101-102 degrees. As a result, they can take a lot more heat than humans can. They are watered regularly on hot days over 100 degrees. Las Vegas also enjoys very low humidity which helps us to tolerate more heat than most other places.

Q. How can I become a Mounted Patrol Officer for LVMPD?
A. First, one must be a Police Officer with at least two years of experience with the LVMPD. Then pass a series of tests to be placed on an eligibility list. Once chosen, you must complete a 40 hour basic Mounted Patrol School and an additional 8 weeks of training with our unit trainer before you can work on the street.

Q. What kind of horses do you ride?
A. We ride Quarter Horses and Quarter crosses primarily. We do have a Thoroughbred and a Standardbred.

Q. What kind of work do we do?
A. We work regular patrol just like a Police Officer who drives a car. We ride in pairs working mainly in Downtown Las Vegas and on the Las Vegas Strip stopping cars and people. We write traffic citations and make arrests on a daily basis. We also work with Search and Rescue in remote mountain and desert locations when there are lost/missing persons or suspects. We work major crowd control events like New Years Eve and the Laughlin River Run. We also conduct demonstrations for local elementary schools.

Q. How long does it take to train a horse to do Police Work?
A. Each horse is different. Depending on the horse, it usually takes between 4-6 months before a horse is ready to work on the street.

Q. Where do you get your horses from?
A. We find our horses all over the country. It is very difficult to find a horse suited to this kind of work due the strict standards we have set for our Unit. There is no one place we get our horses from. We just look for horses with a good, quiet temperament, at least 15.2 hands high, blacks or bays preferred and must be a gelding. We do not take horses with any kind of vices such as cribbing, biting, kicking, rearing or hyperness.

Q. Can I donate my horse to Friends of Metro Mounted Unit to be used as a Police Horse for LVMPD?
A. Yes, however it must meet the above mentioned criteria and prospective donations may only be tried on a 90 day trial basis. Only about 10% of all horses tried are kept.

Q. Does the Friends of Metro Mounted Unit accept donations of any other kind?
A. Yes. Friends of Metro Mounted Unit is a non-profit organization set up to accept donations and raise money to cover the costs involved with maintaining a mounted unit. The goal of Friends of Metro Mounted Unit is to ensure that the LVMPD Mounted Unit has sufficient funding in times of economic strife for the Police Department. The LVMPD Mounted Unit serves as a functioning Police Unit that makes daily arrests and serves as an active deterrent in high-crime areas. The Mounted Unit will accept any barn equipment, tractor services, concrete work, dirt/sand donations for stalls and turnouts and money to standby for unforseen catastrophic injuries to a Police Horse that the Police Department cannot cover. Police Horses are very difficult to replace approx. 6 months to a year, so everything possible is done to keep an injured horse from being put down within certain monetary limits.

Q. Do the Officers in the Mounted Unit have prior horse experience?
A. Some do and some don't. It is not a requirement to have any kind of experience to test for the Mounted Unit. Often times it is easier to train an Officer with no experience at all because they don't bring any bad habits with them.

Q. Who picks up after your horses on the street?
A. Mounted Officers are equipped with a scoop and garbage bag to pick up after the horses, however, if the mess is on the roadway, it stays due to traffic and safety issues. If the mess is on private property or on a pedestrian walkway, the Officers clean up after the horses.