Re: Mounted Police Today
Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2011 2:49 pm
I think this must be an example of the Belgian[img][/url][/img] cavalry 1911.
Losses and Gains in American mounted police units -
After almost four decades on the police force in Newark, N.J., Lt. Robert Marelli spends his last days itemizing saddles, bridles, and brushes.
"My heart's been cut out," said Marelli, poised to retire. "The unit's been decimated. This is what I've known. They're putting me out to pasture, too."
Newark's mounted unit of 18 horses will be officially out of work come Jan. 31 after 120 years, victims of budget woes. But Newark's loss is Philadelphia's gain.
Sometime this week, Marelli will load up a horse trailer with feed, hay, and bedding, and bring the Philadelphia Police Department four new recruits: Broadway Kevin, Amazing Art, Seelster Sam, and American Yankee.
http://articles.philly.com/2011-01-10/n ... olice-unit
With his high-profile job, Lancaster police Chief Keith Sadler is accustomed to being the center of attention.
Except when he's astride Duke the Percheron.
As he rides with the police department's mounted patrol, Sadler said, people love to walk up and pet his horse.
"They'll remember Duke's name," he said with a laugh, "but not mine."
Sadler, however, has no problem playing second fiddle to Duke. Since he took over as chief in April 2008, he has become a big supporter of the four-horse unit and trained to become one of its riders.
Other cities across the country are not so fortunate, as many are putting their mounted patrols out to pasture because of budget shortfalls. Lancaster, though, has been able to buck that trend because the money to cover horse-related expenses doesn't come out of the department budget but from the Lancaster City Police Foundation.
Read more: http://articles.lancasteronline.com/loc ... z1FYnNRV2C
EAST MARLBOROUGH — Philadelphia Police Officers Ed Holmes and Jane Rash are reporting to training classes in Chester County once a month to better equip themselves for their new jobs.
The veteran officers are not honing their gun skills or sharpening their pursuit techniques; they are in school to improve their understanding of horse health issues.
Holmes and Rash, training officers for the city's newly reinstated Mounted Police Unit, are attending equine education classes offered at no cost at the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center in East Marlborough.
http://dailylocal.com/articles/2011/02/ ... 961681.txt
This city is as strapped as any other, but it is bucking a trend and bringing back its mounted police force.
Other cities, including Newark N.J., are still disbanding their mounted units, but Philadelphia plans to bring back cops on horses this fall — if a private foundation can raise $2 million to fund the patrols until the city can afford to take over the cost.
With recently successful pro sports teams and rowdy Saturday night street scenes, Philly needs police horses for crowd control, says Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey, who also championed mounted police in Washington, D.C., when he headed the police force there. The city also needs better relations between residents and the police force as it struggles with a high crime rate, and horses can help there, too, Ramsey says.
http://tucsoncitizen.com/usa-today-news ... ice-again/
Memphis -
As the city administration began anticipating a tough budget season, city department heads, including Police Director Larry Godwin, were asked last fall to show how they might make double-digit percentage cuts from their budgets. But even if asked to make cuts, Godwin said, the mounted unit would not be the first to go; eliminating it wouldn't save that much money.
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/20 ... of-patrol/[/quote]
