STREETS throughout Gloucestershire will soon be clattering with the sound of hooves as the first police horses since the Second World War are deployed in the county.

Gloucestershire Police have unveiled their new ‘mounted section’ – two former Metropolitan Police horses named Boris and General.

Their introduction follows a trial in Cirencester by Oxford University in 2014 which found the public was six times more likely to engage with officers if they were atop horses.

General and Boris had long careers in the Met where they received commendation for their work during the riots in 2011.

They will be housed at Highnam Court and will be posted across Gloucestershire’s policing zones for six-week stints.

Police hope the horses, aged 18 and 22, will be able keep the peace on busy Friday and Saturday nights and have plans to add two more horses to the troop in the future.

The move was spurred in part by deputy chief constable Rod Hansen, who is head of mounted policing across the country.

Currently, however, there is only one officer in Gloucestershire trained to ride the horses.

Superintendent Gary Thompson said: “Its many years since Gloucester Constabulary had a mounted section – we think since World War Two.

“We believe from the studies carried out that there’s a really strong evidence base that deploying mounted officers into the local community improves engagement and we want to put the public at the heart of what we do.

“But they are also there to fight crime in the nighttime economy and in areas of anti-social behaviour.”

Police and crime commissioner Martin Surl said: the £175,000 invested into the mounted unit was “value for money”.

“[The price of the horses is] around £175,000 for the year which is pretty good value considering they are fully operational police horses and highly trained. They are not for show, they’ll be out keeping the peace,” he said.

“If I was a young PC and things were going slightly wobbly, I’d be delighted to see a police horse the size of Boris turn up – they can do the work of more than one officer.”