Mounted police to become regular sight on NT streets after five-month break
THE Territory Mounted Unit has been missing from the city and at public events but after a five months hiatus the unit has returned to the streets
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A USUAL sight in the CBD, the Territory Mounted Unit, has been missing from the city and at public events, but after a five-month hiatus the unit has returned to the streets.
Horses High Tower and Sabre clip-clopped through the city yesterday greeting the public who stopped to take photos and chat with Senior Constables Erin Simonato and Charlie Drury.
The unit underwent a reconfiguration and is now entirely based in Darwin, with the capacity to regularly hit the road out to remote communities and regional towns.
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The unit will also place more emphasis on assisting general duties cops and other frontline tasks such as search and rescue operations.
Dog Operations and Territory Mounted Unit Officer in Charge Senior Sergeant Daniel Whitfield-Jones said while the unit no longer had horses permanently based in Alice Springs, it would regularly head to the Red Centre.
“There’s going to be some angst but our biggest thing is we’re not taking them away,” he said.
In fact, the unit is looking to expand from its current size of three riding cops and seven horses.
The public can expect to see the unit out and about at all times of the day through the CBD and out at public events such as the Darwin Festival or Brunette Downs Races. Constable Drury, who joined the unit from Katherine a few weeks ago, said getting the horses out allowed the public and police to interact. “It’s good to get them out on a nice dry season day to engage with the community,” he said.
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The horses undergo special training to help the horse build up a tolerance to loud sounds, lights and different surroundings.
Sergeant Whitfield-Jones said the horses were part of the fabric of the NT.
“Our mounted police are the soul of the NT Police and even though we have consolidated and our assets are all in Darwin we can go anywhere,” he said.
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