Denver increases police presence downtown with Mounted Patrol

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston says the city is making progress on its goal to reduce crime. The mayor's office is touting a 63% reduction in firearm-related homicides and a 56% drop in homicides overall. The mayor's Downtown Safety Plan, announced just last month, aims to continue that trend.

The plan includes increased police and outreach resources along the 16th Street Mall, so the mayor is designating Denver Police's Mounted Patrol downtown. The officers and their horses work together to curb crime and engage with the public.

"We're the Wild West, and so having the Mounted Patrol just re-instills that," said Sgt. Austen Munson, who oversees DPD's Mounted Patrol unit.

The unit is one of the last of its kind in Colorado, with officers on horseback patrolling the city and engaging with the community.

"They start asking questions about our horses, they'll pet them," said Officer Aaron Carson, who's served with the unit the last four years, "and then they'll start asking questions of us, like, 'Hey, I saw this thing in my neighborhood the other day, what do you think about that?'"

Carson's horse, Ollie, and his partner's named Max, aren't just conversation starters – they're crime stoppers. Just recently, Carson said they were called to a park near the mall where a woman was threatening people with a knife.

"We came up to her on our horses and she dropped the knife just like that," said Carson with a snap of his fingers. "I think seeing the horses was just something different that person hadn't seen before, and it just de-escalated it immediately without me even saying anything. She saw the horse and just dropped it."

While the mounted patrol is nothing new, they do have a renewed presence downtown as part of the mayor's directive to improve public safety.

"When we look at the stats, it looks like crime is trending downward. But, I understand that when we have incidents that occur on the mall, that perception is really what we need to address," said Munson. "So, having our mounted patrol down here, having officers visible really addresses that perception of feeling safe."

Members of the six-person, five-horse unit are out on the mall several days a week, as well as for big events like the Nuggets' NBA Playoffs run.

"As it gets busier down here, having them at that higher vantage point allows them to see things that officers at the ground level may not," Munson said.

Denver may be part of the Wild West, just not too wild… at least when the DPD Mounted Patrol rides in.

"Whether you're up to no good or not, or whether you have the best of intentions, just seeing these [horses] makes you think," Carson said.