Nine horses in Portland may be out of a job. The Portland Police Bureau is looking at $3 million dollars in budget cuts and the Mounted Patrol is on the chopping block. The unit costs a mere $570,000 a year. Not bad in the realm of public safety. They are responsible for crowd control, public relations, and downtown patrols. They average about 150 arrests a month and they have a huge presence at downtown protests. In Portland, you know we have lots of those! The Mounted Patrol is solely responsible for moving crowds in these big events. It is pretty amazing to watch. The horses even wear face masks so they are not subject to the pepper spray.
I know they do a lot of dressage training and recently had Ken Mcnabb in for some instruction. They really are a great group of people and I think it would be a huge loss to the city of Portland to have their unit dissolved.
The Friends of the Mounted Patrol has a Facebook page...if you would like to join and support them.
7 comments:
I'll bet there are a lot more money grabbing useless things that could go instead of the mounted patrol. It would be such a shame to lose them to budget cuts.
It would be a darned shame to loose that presence in Portland! The unique ways they travel gets them to places so much easier.
The 10 years my sister trained horses and riders there(Formally at Delta Park), it was a constant thing... "we are cutting the mounted police" but it never did happen..Pray this time they make it through as well!
Thanks Jules..will check in and speak up.
KK
It would be sad to lose the patrol. Horses are the best for crowd control. Good luck.
I heard this on our local news. I really hope it doesn't happen. Right now I'm sick to death of beauracrats and their idea of budget cuts.
I think getting rid of the mounted patrol would be tragic. They are a huge public relations tool.
Just say NO to cutting the mounted patrol! I have ALWAYS wanted to be a mountie! NOOOOOO! They must stay, how will I ever get going with my new career if they just dump the mounted patrols in all the cities? Just raise the tolls on a road somewhere or something, they always seem to find a way to keep STUPID things funded, this is something that needs to stay put!
Jules!!!
YEA!!!! I really was gladdened by your sweet comment to me...really hope to ride more with you too this year!
Kac
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