Police share a look inside the Charleston Mounted Horse Patrol Unit

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - The City of Charleston Police Department’s Mounted Horse Patrol Unit is a unique part of the department that brings many benefits to the officers, but a lot of work and a lot of care goes into making it a reality.

The Charleston Police Mounted Horse Patrol Unit dates all the way back to 1978 when it was originally founded, but the unit was disbanded in 2011 and did not return to the city until just a few years ago.

The horses and their officer partners had to put in about 320 hours of training to become certified, but the training never really ends. The officers work with the horses every week to continue the training and make sure they are ready to hit the streets.

The unit is currently made up of only two horses named Watson and Holmes and their partners, Officers Grant Mattingley and Shaun Ferguson. Watson and Holmes are both former carriage horses that came from Palmetto Carriage Works.

Mattingley grew up riding dressage, so being on horseback was nothing new for him. He helped others learn how to ride.

As such an avid horse lover, Mattingley says that this job means the world to him.

“I love it,” he says. “Every day it’s awesome coming in. It’s definitely a different experience too, being able to ride down the street and going down King Street and seeing everything. It’s been great.”

Both Mattingley and Ferguson share how different this experience is from being a normal patrol officer.

“I have to, like, wake myself up to the reality of that every day I get to ride around in one of the oldest cities in America, with a lot of traditions that [were] built by horses,” Ferguson says. “To ride through these neighborhoods and see the people, the diversity of this community, it’s great to be a part of that. And then to serve as something that they see is that can help them, protect them, make them feel safe for, you know, their kids can come see the police officer maybe in a different light than they’re used to with the automobile and things like that.”

Each officer and their horse spend about six hours patrolling every shift. That is broken up into two three-hour intervals. This type of patrolling allows them to see and access areas that they could not possibly reach without a horse.

“One thing is just accessibility; we are able to get into certain streets, alleys and into tight spaces with the horses where a car could never get into. Another big thing, if you obviously see, these guys are very tall; an officer from the saddle can see much further and all [the way] around them compared to an officer on the ground - they’re only going to be able to see… maybe a block or two. We’re able to see several blocks in all directions,” Erica Martin, a senior police officer and part of the Charleston Police Department Mounted Unit, says.

While the horses increase their ability to do their job, one major benefit is the community engagement that comes with this unit.

“I’ve done police work for 24 years and we get a lot of support in this city, just in general, but when we get on the back of a horse? It’s unbelievable,” Ferguson says. “Especially over the last few years, it’s so great to see how many people love us and want us to be involved, no matter what we’re doing.”

The officers say they have received so much support for this unit and they look forward to how it grows in the future.

Martin says that they are hoping to expand this unit, as the more horses they have, the more they will be able to do.

Ideally, they want to make this a fully functioning patrol unit and they plan to bring on more officers and horses this year, which they say they are very excited about.