Whether patrolling New York City’s streets on horseback, flying a few thousand feet in the air, or working alongside a highly trained canine, the pioneering spirit of four female NYPD officers — Detective Pamela Bond, Lieutenant Kellie Scott, Officer Jillian Ludvick and Detective Christina Orlando — took center stage in honor of Women’s History Month at the NYPD Aviation Unit at Floyd Bennett Field on March 23.
Bond and Scott are members of one of the NYPD’s most elite divisions — the Mounted Unit — and patrol city streets on their horses, 10-year-old Percheron Cross Oliver and 14-year-old Mustang Foley. Because of their elevated vantage point and mobility, they are regulars at parades and parks, assist with crowd control at concerts, protests and sporting events, and serve as a crime deterrent.
Scott, a 20-year NYPD veteran, has been with the Mounted Unit for 12 years — a career path she always wanted to pursue, she told Brooklyn Paper.
While Scott has an equestrian background — she minored in equine science and worked with horses professionally before becoming a police officer — prior riding experience is not required to join the unit. Officers who want to transfer to the Mounted Unit must have at least three years on the force, pass an interview and physical test, and be confident around horses.
They then complete three months of training at the NYPD Mounted Unit facility in Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx, where they learn how to ride and care for the “10-Foot Cops.” (Fun fact: all NYPD horses are geldings.)
“You work on your physical fitness, and you work on your riding. And it’s usually three to four hours a day that we would put you on a horse so you can really come a long way in that three-month period, even if you haven’t ridden before,” Scott explained, noting that she had the “coolest job” in the world.
Bond and Scott said the horses often serve as icebreakers between officers and the community, fostering positive interactions because mounted officers appear more approachable.
“You can have that positive interaction with the person in the community that might have never wanted to or had ever spoken to a police officer before in that positive way. So that’s really super fun, just getting to talk to people and meet different people,” Scott said.
Bond, a 25-year NYPD veteran who joined the Mounted Unit 18 years ago, also patrols Times Square. She said the assignment allows her to meet people from around the world.
“It could be 10 police officers over there, but they’ll see me first — and you can’t help but see us. So we get a lot of conversation,” Bond said. “You get a lot of different people from all over the world. They’re fascinated. People always come up to you, say hi, and you get the good side of being a cop.”
Her advice to anyone considering the Mounted Unit: “If this is the one that you think you might want to join, then you apply for it and try it. And it might look hard, but try it out, you’ve got a good chance of making it,” Bond noted.
After patrolling the Bronx, Jillian Ludvick joined the NYPD Aviation Unit three years ago. She now patrols the city from a few thousand feet above — and broke barriers in the process, becoming the NYPD’s first African American female pilot and one of three female pilots in the unit.
Her dream of flying began when she saw Polaroid photos of her father, a retired Emergency Service Unit detective, rappelling from a Bell 412 helicopter. When she was 13, her father enrolled her in flight school.
“He’s very proud. He’s always excited whenever I show him videos and pictures of what we’re doing,” Ludvick shared, noting that his advice for her was, “Know your job, do your job.”
Ludvick hopes to join the NYPD’s Air Sea Rescue unit, an elite team within Aviation that performs water rescues, medical evacuations and maritime searches within a 60-mile radius of New York City. The assignment requires at least 300 patrol helicopter flight hours. She recalled reading about NYPD Aviation pilot Detective Laura Zbikowski while she was in high school.
“There was an article about an air [and] sea rescue. As soon as I saw a picture and it was a female pilot, I was like, ‘I can’t wait to be like her when I grow up,’” Ludvick said.
Ludvick, now living her childhood dream, described her profession as “the best job in the world,” adding that the most exciting part of flying is the adrenaline rush.
“Whether you’re going on just an executive flight or when I go on patrol jobs, it’s the adrenaline rush. [It’s] like, ‘Alright, we got to find the bad guy,’” she said.
Ludvick encouraged young women and girls to push past fear and embrace new challenges.
“Don’t let being scared hold you back. You could always push forward. Whether it’s something you’re uncomfortable with, being uncomfortable is good. It’s always good to be uncomfortable in a situation. That means you’re worried about progressing,” Ludvick said.
Detective Christina Orlando and her four-legged partner, 10-year-old Belgian Malinois Lindsay, are part of the NYPD Emergency Service Unit K-9 team, which helps locate suspects and missing persons and conducts searches for evidence, narcotics, guns and explosive devices.
Orlando, who comes from a law enforcement family, joined the NYPD 15 years ago and long hoped to work in the canine unit, combining her passion for policing with her love of animals.
“Bonding those two loves together, I am living my dream every single day,” Orlando told Brooklyn Paper.
Orlando and Lindsay — named after Detective Christian Lindsay, who served 25 years with the NYPD and died of 9/11-related illnesses in 2017 — have been partners for nine years. They made history as the first female-female ESU K-9 team, and two years ago Orlando became the unit’s first female canine trainer, a role she described “as a true honor.”
She credited her success to family members, co-workers and mentors who believed in her determination to join the elite unit and encouraged her to pursue the goal — support she now hopes to pass on to others.
“It’s an honor that I had so many people believing in me and that I was able to fulfill my dreams in canine, and it’s an honor to possibly pave the way for other females in the future,” Orlando said. “It’s such a blessing, because I know what it feels like to be in that position and want something so bad, and then to be able to mentor people, but to do it happily, because you’re so grateful to be here. I’ve been in the unit for 10 years, and I still feel like I just got here. I feel like it’s my first day. You know, you’re just so excited to be here.”
Orlando, who also serves as a canine coordinator for FEMA Search and Rescue, said the best part of the K-9 unit is not only the camaraderie among handlers and trainers, but also the bond between the dogs and their partners. The pairs are matched by personality before undergoing extensive training together.
“It’s like no other bonds, because you’re constantly with the dog. You are with them 24 hours a day. They’re at home with you. They’re part of our family. She’s legit, my family,” Orlando said about Lindsay. “I feel like she’s all my hopes and dreams packed into a 55-pound canine. She’s everything I ever wanted. She’s resilient, she’s tough, she’s little, but she’s fierce. She is my protector, my best friend.”
