"... and the horse you rode in on ..."

The United States Park Police Horse Mounted Unit is one of the oldest established police equestrian units in the United States. Established in 1934 with one horse that was rented from a local stable. However, as the value of the mounted unit was proven, it was expanded to an operational strength that patrols and provides protection in the Washington Metropolitan Area as well as New York and San Francisco.

When a few years back, that the NY Times Sunday Magazine published a photoessay featuring cops on duty, mostly in Times Square, I'd reflect on my then ongoing Cops in the Line of Duty series whereby, over the years, I, too had photographed and captured police while on duty. Shortly after that NY Times publication I would change the title of the project to Cop Duty. And not unlike Hands or Men At Work, and in what I refer to as candid but consentual photography, capturing police has always been an important element in my body of work.

This picture of the US Park Police Horse Mounted Unit was taken on 3 July 2006, on the National Mall during the 2006 Smithsonian Folklife Festival.