Police Horse Down

I don't know if that's the right question. The police would probably say that horses are very good for some things (like controlling riots, though that's touchy given Matt's specific example of Queen's Park.) The question then is, given that they're very good at specific things, and given that there aren't riots every day, what do you do with them the rest of the time, and on balance does such an arrangement justify having horses at all?

While you can disagree with the police's reluctance to use diapers, which I'm not sure would have any downside, I'm not sure I agree with Matt. People in helicopters can't chase people inside buildings either, but that isn't a necessary condition for being a police unit--it just means they're specialized. That role might have some risk involved for the horses, but then so does being a police dog, or a police officer--any injury is still the fault of the hit and run driver. Maybe having horses on an explicit traffic patrol isn't the greatest idea, but if the horses and their riders are out there, maintaining their skills and simultaneously making a display of police presence, and they happen to come across a car doing something illegal what are they supposed to do? Also, I thought the whole idea of using horses in crowd control was to freak people out? Get them to move back? The Queen's Park incident might have been an inappropriate venue or featured inappropriate use of force but that doesn't mean there aren't legitimate cases where horses could be used to subdue riots, just as there are cases where we let officers use force in the form of weapons.

Police horses aren't the best solution to everyday police work, but they seem hard to replace for some purposes, and if you're going to have them for special occasions you might as well use them all of the time.

wrenkin, i don't quite agree with your logic - "if you're going to have them for special occasions you might as well use them all of the time" - but, like helicopters and dogs, i guess they could be used in a "specialized" capacity; just not sure what this is....

Mounted police patrols in the city are worth maintaining because they provide valuable capabilities that foot patrols, bike cops and police in cruisers can't. First, this is a city covered in park land and ravines. Some of that park land is manicured like Trinity Bellwoods but a lot of it, perhaps the majority of it, is relatively rough terrain like the Rosedale Valley ravine and the Don Valley which is most effectively moved through on horseback.

Second, Queen's Park example aside, mounted police are far better at crowd patrol than officers on foot, on bikes, in helicopters, in cars, in hot air balloons. They are intimidating, they can move quickly in a small space, people are indeed less likely to throw a brick at a horse than at a police car windshield, and perhaps most importantly the police officers that are sitting on the back of a horse have a much better view of the crowd than anyone standing on the ground. Unlike officers on the ground an officer on horseback knows what is going on further than a few people deep in a crowd they can survey the entire field from their vantage point, pass that information on to other officers allowing them to control the crowd more effectively. It works the other way as well, if you are in a large crowd of people your low vantage point often prevents you from seeing much more than what is immediately in front of you. Because of their height, cops on horses are more likely to be visible than officers at ground level.

During large outdoor festivals like Carribana and the Ex it gives a crowd a visible reminder that police are present. During riot situations it reminds people that right next to that man on horseback is probably a line of riot police with armor, shields and batons, which would hopefully deter people in a crowd from trying anything out of order. Mounted police are beacons of authority in crowded situations.

Finally, they are good for public relations. They are visually stunning, part of a long and still vital tradition of policing in this city and the mounted police officers are the ones tourists, children and the curious gravitate to.