The Metropolitan Police Mounted Branch is a Central Operations

Central Operations

Central Operations is a major directorate of the London Metropolitan Police Service that provides operational support to the rest of the service...

 branch of London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

's Metropolitan Police Service

Metropolitan Police Service

The Metropolitan Police Service is the territorial police force responsible for Greater London, excluding the "square mile" of the City of London which is the responsibility of the City of London Police...

. The responsibility of the branch is to conduct safe policing of football matches, and crowd control

Crowd control

Crowd control is the controlling of a crowd, to prevent the outbreak of disorder and prevention of possible riot. Examples are at soccer matches, when a sale of goods has attracted an excess of customers, refugee control, or mass decontamination and mass quarantine situations . It calls for gentler...

 at other large public order events.

Crowd control is the primary object of the deployment of the police horses, both for orderly and disorderly gatherings of assembled crowds. The controlling units of police horses usually consist of ten Constables and one Sergeant, headed by an Inspector.