One police finds her best friend in an 18-year-old horse.
AUSTIN, Texas – Austin police officer Laney Sunyich starts her mornings scooping poop. She’s on mounted patrol, the unit within the Austin Police Department that operates on horseback. “We work together every weekend on Sixth Street,” Officer Sunyich said.
Officer Sunyich graduated from the police academy in 2017. She was a patrol officer until a year ago, when she joined mounted patrol. It’s a competitive unit to get assigned to because most officers don’t want to leave. Officer Sunyich said you usually have to wait for someone to retire for a spot to open up.
Mounted patrol has 10 officers, three supervisors and 16 horses. The horses also go through training. It could take six months to two years to get them ready for police work.There are two horse trainers with APD. First, horses get used to loud noises and music. Then they’re taken downtown to walk on trails, near vehicles and around crowds. Once they’re comfortable with the day shift, they'll start training on Sixth Street at night.
Sgt. Payne has heard on and off about defunding mounted patrol, but the unit faced its most serious threat in 2021. She gives APD’s executive staff the credit for keeping the unit around.
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