Camden Police Department Mounted Unit

Needless to say, the Camden Police Department used horses in the pre-automobile era. As motorcycles, patrol cars, and “paddy wagons” were introduced, the mounted unit was relegated to a lesser and lesser role. Mounted police often were utilized for crowd control during the many labor strikes that occurred in Camden in the 1930s and 1940s.

Early in 1947 the Courier-Post and its clerical and editorial workers engaged in a fierce labor dispute, which resulted in publisher J. David Stern shutting down the newspaper and selling it, the Philadelphia Record, and Philadelphia radio station WCAU to Harold A. Stretch. At some point during the strike ball bearings were thrown on the concrete driveway and several horses were injured. The mounted police unit was disbanded after this incident.

The Camden Police established a new mounted unit in the early 1990s. When the mounted police was resurrected, Camden Police Captain Raymond Massi donated the first horse for the presentation made to the Chief of Police and the city government to support the new unit.