Mounted Patrol Troopers complete an intensive night/weekend academy and must meet the same strict requirements as any peace officer in New Mexico.

[3] Criminal elements of the state government repeatedly attempted to get rid of the Mounted Police and even succeeded in defunding the agency from 1913 to 1917.

[4] The Mounted Police gained a reputation as a very effective law enforcement agency following the attack on Columbus, New Mexico by Pancho Villa and his men.

[4] A group of citizens realized that the newly formed State Police was poorly equipped and often outnumbered, and decided to resurrect the Mounted Patrol as a volunteer organization in 1937.

He pushed to make the Mounted Patrol an official state law enforcement agency and on April 16, 1941 the organization in its present form was created.