What Will Happen to Horses When Connecticut’s Capitol Disbands Police Mounted Unit?

My first thought is what will happen to the horses once the Hartford Mounted Police unit disbands?

Sadly this story comes down to money. Government and money. No surprise there. But now there's a few horses out of work. They are not inexpensive to keep. I know because I have a close friend that has quite a few, some that are rescued. I may have to give her a call.

According to the Hartford Courant the city of Hartford is disbanding its mounted police unit as a cost saving move. It's reported that Hartford spent 500-thousand-dollars to purchase the horses, buy equipment and renovate a barn for the unit in Keney Park in 2008.

Sadly when the city recently tried to sell  the two horses, equipment and their trailer at auction, but the only bid of 500-dollars was rejected as too low. I'm sure they aren't looking at it as a money making deal, but eight years later one would certainly hope for a bit more return on the dollar than that.

Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin had this to say to courant.com

The bottom line is that the unit isn't being disbanded because of what we can make by selling it; it's being disbanded because we're at a time when resources are tight and we've got to make tough decisions about where to put those resources.We just can't justify having multiple officers dedicated to taking care of horses rather than being out on the street responding to calls, rather than being out on the beat

I'm all for cities saving money, but I just feel like a mounted police patrol is such a great community asset. On top of that these mighty horses have a purpose and I don't believe being put out to pasture will serve them well. I'm praying that an organization steps up to do the right thing by them.

Listen to Pam Brooks weekdays from 10-3PM on 95.1 FM, online at i95rock.com/listen-live/ or by downloading the radioPup app for your mobile device.