After a 20-year absence, officers will once again ride horseback through the streets of downtown Ocala with the return of the Ocala Police Department Mounted Patrol Unit.
City officials and OPD welcomed horses Merci and Lancelot to the force during a pinning ceremony held at Citizens Circle in downtown Ocala on Thursday.
The ceremony marks the return of the city’s Mounted Patrol Unit, which was previously disbanded two decades ago.
The two horse officers are partnered with Officer Leedy and Officer Boyer. Together, the unit will patrol the “streets of the Horse Capital of the World,” according to a statement from the city.
The new unit joins the Marion County Sheriff’s Office Mounted Unit, which was established in the 1960s. Although MCSO’s mounted unit has been in operation since that time, OPD’s mounted unit was disbanded in 2004.
The return of the equestrian division to Ocala had been anticipated and discussed by city officials for several years leading up to Thursday’s ceremony.
In December 2021, OPD Chief Mike Balken expressed a strong desire to see the Mounted Patrol Unit return during an Ocala City Council meeting.
Balken stated that he had previously supervised OPD’s mounted unit until its end in 2004.
“We are the Horse Capital of the World, and if any law enforcement agency should have a mounted unit, I would say that the City of Ocala should,” said Balken during the city council meeting in 2021.
At the time, Balken emphasized that the patrol was cost prohibitive and that it would only return with the appropriate sponsorship.
On Thursday, city officials revealed that the new unit is “fully funded through generous support from” the community and will not cost “any taxpayer dollars.”
“Officers Leedy and Boyer, the proud riders of Merci and Lancelot, are ready to patrol the streets of the Horse Capital of the World,” reads a statement from the city. “Be sure to look for our newest four-legged officers downtown.”
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