Defund the police movement is blamed for loss of beloved Seattle tradition
The Seattle Police Department is disbanding its beloved Mounted Patrol Unit due to lack of funding.
The Seattle Police Department is disbanding its beloved Mounted Patrol Unit due to lack of funding.
Police announced the decision on Monday after Mayor Bruce Harrell proposed a city budget that calls to remove support for SPDs Mounted Patrol Unit despite giving the department a $62 million boost, reported Fox 13.
The horseback unit served the community for nearly 150 years but has been forced to downsize over the past decade and have only managed to stay afloat thanks to donations.
Washingtons largest city has struggled with just 913 cops to serve its 750,000 people after losing 725 officers in the last five years as the City Council began defunding the department.
As SPD continues to recover from loss of hundreds of officers over the past four years, we have to carefully prioritize how to use existing scarce resources, the department said.
The Seattle Police Department is disbanding its beloved Mounted Patrol Unit
Mayor Bruce Harrell proposed a city budget that calls to remove support for SPDs Mounted Patrol Unit
The Seattle Police Department is heartbroken that we have to make the very difficult decision to begin decommissioning our Mounted Patrol Unit over the next several months.
We will be working to find a compassionate and meaningful transition for each of the animals. We hope that some of them might be used to serve the community in other ways, such as therapy horses.
In the 1880s, the Mounted Patrol Unit was used to patrol remote areas of the city, but was phased out during the Longshoremans strike of 1934, according to the Seattle Police Foundation.
It was revived in 1972 and entered into service in 1973 with eight horses, seven officers, and one sergeant.
Budget shortfalls put the unit at risk in 2010 which led the foundation to launch an intensive fundraising campaign called Save our Horses which extended funding through 2014.
The current unit has six horses, one pony, five officers and one sergeant and is mostly used in a ceremonial capacity.
The horseback unit served the community for nearly 150 years but has been forced to downsize over the past decade
The current unit has six horses, one pony, five officers and one sergeant and is mostly used in a ceremonial capacity
Over the past decade, due to lack of resources, the unit has been downsized and is primarily used for community events, ceremonies, and memorial services, police said.
Fans of the Mounted Unit blame Defund the Police movement that began with the riots that rampaged across the city in the wake of George Floyds murder in Minneapolis by a white police officer.
After 150 years, Seattle Police Mounted Patrol Unit is being disbanded. Another casualty of the failed defund the police movement, one person said.
Never forget the far-left activists and politicians who pushed for this. Many who are running for re-election in WA State are responsible for this.
Oh. So defunding the police brought this to an end? Nice, said another.
Others were supportive of the decision saying its good for the animals and the resources will be better used elsewhere.
Long overdue. The mounted patrol hasnt served a police function in more than a decade. Its purely a PR tool, one person said.
This is good news for the horses. I hope they all end up at a sanctuary where they can live their best lives, said another.
