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It's official: Police mounted unit is dead
By adamg on Wed, 06/24/2009 - 4:43pm
The park mounted unit will stay around because rich folks like the idea of horsies in the park and so kicked in enough money to keep rangers on horse, but the more mundane BPD mounted unit will be dismounted with the fiscal year starting July 1 because it got no similar outpouring of cash, under a budget approved by the city council today.
City Council President Mike Ross, who opposed dismantling the unit, said he and Councilor Stephen Murphy worked with the mayor's office to keep control of the Jamaica Plain stables so that they could be re-opened in the future if finances improve and the city re-starts the mounted unit.
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Comments
I'm not rich, but I like the
I'm not rich, but I like the idea of horsies in the park because they create a very conspicuous presence in Boston's larger parks, can cover a lot more ground quickly, go places a cruiser cannot, and when it comes to protests no one can deny the great power mounted police have with crowd control. Plus, the tourists blewdy loved the damn things. I'm sad to see them go.
There's plenty of other pork to cut in this city. At least this one served some kind of purpose.
I should learn to write clearly
The rich-people angle is that a bunch of rich people actually donated money to the city to keep the park rangers on horses, while nobody did anything similar for the police on horses.
neigh, I say!
It's not just the rich who like the mounted horse units, it's us regular folks too.
Sad.
As a liberal pinko commie knee-jerk anti-authoritarian who would definitely go to more protests if they didn't make me wake up so early...
This seems like a bad move. As the activist in the story says, mounted officers are unparalleled for crowd control. It's a visceral thing, not to mention a height-advantage thing. They're intimidating without being militaristic (as opposed to, say, riot shields).
Officers in bike pants just don't have that same effect.
Not that it matters anymore
but Commissioner Davis said "I had to choose between animals and people, and I chose people." Couldn't the department afford to hire even MORE people if they got rid of all those expensive cars, radios, guns and uniforms? Yet Davis choose radios over people. We all know that more officers would mean more safety.
Why does Commissioner Davis hate safety?
Aww, no more horsies?
I think police horses are a good idea. For one, they don't pollute, unlike cruisers and motorbikes. For another, they, as others have said, go places where cars can't, are effective crowd control, and put the policeperson up high.
I think there is a lot better things the city could be doing to cut costs-like fixing things such as the Big Dig right the first time so they don't have to go back for more repairs later, but whatever.