Bob CollinsWe have to admit we’ll miss the horses of the St. Paul Police Department…
But, really, it’s 2019 and what’s the point anymore other than some good public relations and a chance for people to say “nice, horsy”?
The mounted unit patrols the State Fair, street festivals and the cities parks.
But the city is getting rid of the mounted patrol and the motorcycles, the former was a recommendation of a report 10 years ago.
And it’s not as if the department is wiping out significant history; the mounted patrol has only been operational since 1995 (a previous version of the unit was disbanded in 1927), some of its funding raised by the St. Paul Mounted Police Foundation.
But the officers need to be reassigned, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports.
Three of the horses will be returned to the people who donated them. The search is on for homes for the three others.
Police chief Todd Axtell says the officers will focus on distracted driving in the city.
