DOVER, Del.- Delaware State Police on Tuesday unveiled stables for their mounted unit in Smyrna.
The stables serve as home base for the six horses of the unit run by Master Cpl. Alison Meadows.
The unit was founded by Meadows in 2012, because she has always had a passion for horses.
"Being a horse person it was a question of why doesn't the Delaware State Police have a mounted unit? And at the time the idea was for ceremonial purposes, the honor guard," she said.
Meadows said the most important part of the program is using offenders from the neighboring James T. Vaughn Correctional Center in Smyrna. The unit employs inmates look for work and to learn important things about getting back to life once they are released.
Calvin Allen, an inmate at the facility, said each horse has a different personality and he loves getting to know them. WBOC asked Allen about the most important thing to him about working in the stables.
"Work ethic. You know, learning a different trade. Just basically making a difference within my life," he said.
Inmates help groom the horses, clean the stalls and help with taking the horses out.
Meadows said the horses are used at crowded events like the Firefly Music Festival and the Delaware State Fair where a police presence is necessary.
The working horses are owned by members of the Delaware community who wanted their horses to have a second career. They come to visit their horses often as they serve Delaware, according to Meadows.
She was quick to note that having these horses is important for the type of policing she believes is necessary today.
"In this technological era that we're in, bringing back face-to-face policing is really what I think we need to do," she said. "[I communicate] with people who I know would never have approached my patrol car."
There are 11 troopers who work in the DSP Mounted Unit, including the office in charge, Meadows said.
