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For crowd control and police visibility, nothing beats a cop on a horse. But as municipal budgets continue to shrink and funding for extras like a mounted unit become harder and harder to find, law enforcement agencies are re-evaluating their spending priorities.
Looking to save money, the Boise, Idaho Police Department eliminated their mounted patrol unit. The horses were sold off along with all the riding gear. Many say the move is a mistake.
"That was the biggest public relations tool they had," Rene Ducroux told the Associated Press in an interview. Ducroux sold the Boise police force a horse two years ago and bought it back at the auction.
"Families will go up to a police officer on a horse and actually have that interaction. On a horse, it breaks that wall down," Ducroux said.
The argument about whether to maintain mounted units, or eliminate them in order to save money, illustrates the way policing has changed in recent decades. While supporters of mounted patrols say the horses are critical for public relations and crowd control during large events, critics say mounted units don’t actually provide that much value for dollars spent on public safety.
Dian Cecil, who raises and sells police horses from her farm in Lexington, Kentucky, says that more technology and specialized units inevitably lead to a reduction in the number of agencies using horses.
“They’ve got bicycles, dog teams, SWAT teams, and scuba divers. When the city goes through hard times, then a lot of the specialty units will be disbanded," Cecil told the AP.
The Boise mounted patrol unit, formed in 1987, consisted of three horses and three riders. Disbanding it will save $98,000 in the first year according to department figures.
"Horses are part of our Western heritage that we love to celebrate. From that point of view it really is kind of a sad day," police spokeswoman Lynn Hightower said. "But it's also a day where the department needs to be accountable to taxpayers."
Detroit disbanded its 112-year-old mounted police unit a couple of months ago. A local businessman, Bob Raisch, is raising donations to try to bring it back.
"They're the best crowd-control device ever invented," Raisch said. "More than that, it's just the feeling of security and well-being and sophistication that a mounted policeman conveys to both citizens and visitors."
But those advantages cost lots of money. Horses require food and veterinary care, and run up boarding costs and expenses.
With gas prices climbing to record highs, Sgt. Jay Postlewaite, the head of the Lexington, kentucky, mounted police unit, thinks horses are a bargain when you compare the cost of fleet maintenance to the price of taking care of an animal.
"Over a 10-year period you're still going to pay less to maintain a horse than a car," he told the Associated Press. "Where the car tends to depreciate with time and wear, the horses actually get a little better with time and experience."
Atlanta's mounted patrol unit was re-established this year after having been eliminated in 2002 because of budget constraints. Toledo, Ohio, established a seven-horse unit in 1989, dumped it because of financial problems in 1991, and re-established it in 1995.
"It is somewhat of an expensive unit to maintain," Capt. Diana Ruiz-Krause, a Toledo police spokeswoman told the AP. "But when we have the big events downtown, there's really nothing that works like a police officer on top of a horse." Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites        
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