Senior Sergeant Mary Divine led her police unit through their morning exercises, marching in formation to prepare them for the day’s work assignment. Of the 12 sworn officers under her command, six of them—Darby, Commander, Cisco, Elvis, Mick and Tonka—are quadrupeds.

Sweat formed along the velvety black coats of the Clydesdales as they trotted inside the barn at Carousel Park in Wilmington. Their hooves struck up dust from the dirt floor as the horses executed the commands of the New Castle County Police Department’s Mounted Patrol with precision.

Divine, a 15-year officer with the police department, took control of the unit six months ago. She says the department has faced potentially losing the horses several times.

“We suffer from budget cuts just like everyone,” Divine says. “Every time there is a budget cut, we are always worried that something is going to happen and we are going to lose our horses, but so far we’ve been fortunate.”

The responsibilities of the mounted unit include crime interdiction and community patrol, but routine police work is different from atop a 2,000-pound steed. Without the luxury of a climate-controlled Crown Victoria, they are more exposed to the elements in extreme seasons, Divine says.

Carousel Park employee Gretchen Baxter-Walker and her coworkers spend their mornings feeding and grooming the horses before they go into duty. She says starting in 1999, police departments in Boston and Philadelphia were cutting mounted patrols and smaller agencies were following their model to save costs.

“A lot of talk was going on throughout the county of cutbacks,” Baxter-Walker says. “There were a lot of economic issues and people taking pay cuts. From what I understand they were looking at all agencies, in all departments, for whatever they could cut back on, and the mounted patrol was a unit that was being looked at.”

She and her friends formed a nonprofit volunteer organization called Friends of the Mounted Patrol, which raises money for the unit through fundraising events. Last October, they raised more than $10,000 at an event celebrating the 30-year anniversary of the mounted patrol.

Baxter-Walker says a quality saddle can be the difference between a healthy unit and a horse unfit for patrol. The money Friends of the Mounted Patrol raised this year went toward fitted saddles for all six horses, replacing the worn, dated ones of previous years. She says the contributions help keep the unit afloat because they are the last mounted division left in Delaware.

Senior Corporal Rosemarie Williams says the horses help facilitate a close relationship between officers and the local population.

“So many people come up to us that would not come up to me if I was in a police car,” Williams says. “We’re just more approachable. I cannot believe the amount of information and the amount of community contacts that I get from being in the mounted unit compared to when I was on patrol in a police car.”

Williams is paired with Darby, a 15-year-old Canadian Clydesdale standing 68 inches from the ground to the highest point of his spine. Darby’s strength has earned him top honors at the National Police Equestrian Championships Uniform Judging Event twice.

“They are gentle giants,” Williams says. “We do like to use the [working class] draft horses because of how easygoing they are.”

Officer First Class Erich Selhorst is partnered with Commander, a 16-year-old Clydesdale similar to Darby. Selhorst says citizens are more comfortable with a mounted patrol.

“If you think about those people who come up to a police car leaning in the window and talking to you, everybody thinks they’re snitching,” Selhorst says.

He says the presence of the mounted patrol alone is sometimes enough to deter crime. From car thieves and drug dealers to minor offenders, few lawbreakers can ignore an officer on horseback. Even fewer can ignore an entire patrol unit.

“Most of the time, when we move in the problems move out,” Selhorst says.

The size of the horses also makes them effective crowd controllers, and their calm temperament is ideal for police work in busy environments. A wall of six horses advancing together will quickly disperse a large crowd. Divine says angry rioters and drunken sports fans can withstand tear gas, but seem to lose morale when mounted units arrive on scene.

Officer Greg Bruno rides Tonka, the unit’s largest horse. The purebred Percheron weighs more than 2,000 pounds. For Tonka, displacing a human being is like a parent handling a toddler. The only defense is to go limp in surrender, Bruno says.

Depending on weather conditions and work detail, a draft horse can consume 20 gallons of water in a day. Despite their immensity, the appetite of a draft horse is less than that of smaller breeds because they have a slower metabolism and a sedentary lifestyle.

Each of the officers is paired exclusively with one horse, and they are very affectionate toward the animals. The unit only deals with large crowds several times each year, but they train daily.

“They are all sworn police officers, so if somebody does harm to the horse, it’s a felony as if they assaulted a police officer,” Divine says.

Selhorst worked as a police dispatcher for nine years before he became a police officer. He attended night classes at Delaware Technical and Community College while working and raising newborn twin daughters. He earned his degree and got hired with the New Castle County Police Department, and five years later the mounted patrol had three positions open. He did not hesitate.

Selhorst says applicants’ track records are screened closely to ensure only the best officers are accepted in the mounted unit. His training began immediately after Christmas in 2008, along with Bruno and Corporal Jose Baerga. The trio braved 12 cold weeks of intensive training, simulating search-and-rescue operations and completing obstacle courses, at times bareback.

Selhorst says the police department holds the mounted patrol to the highest standard, and he feels honored to be a part of it. He stood next to Commander after their morning workout, gently running his fingers through the horse’s long mane and nodding encouragingly to the animal.

“I take great pride in it,” Selhorst says.