Essex Police Mounted Section

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The Colchester Borough Police were able to borrow cavalry horses at will and could quickly form a mounted section. Once the mounted section was formed, stables were built into the new Springfield Headquarters, one door still has the word 'Groom' above it today.

In 1914, the Southend on Sea Constabulary was formed and mounted officers regularly appeared in photographs of the time. When the force headquarters (the present Southend Police Station) was occupied in 1961 a block of three stables was built. Horses purchased from the army were always grey, until Southend amalgamated with the Essex Constabulary in 1969. The Essex Police mounted section is still based at Southend and in 1983 a further stable was built.

Currently the unit has four horses; Czar and Courage are both bay in colour and stand at 16 hands high, Clouseau is the only grey in the section and is 17 hands high and finally Cormack, who joined the section in 1995, is chestnut in colour and is 16 hands 2 inches high. The unit is made up of a sergeant and five constables who work throughout the county. Two horse boxes are used for transportation. All members of the unit receive regular training. Officers who work for the section are police officers first who then apply to join the mounted section.

Today the 'Mounted Section' is part of the Essex Police Support Unit and is used for searching rough ground and for crowd control at football games and other public events. The horses also create excellent opportunities to forge good relations with the public.

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