Amid Protest, City Plans to Put Horse Patrol Out to Pasture

The San Diego police officers who have traded in their car sirens for saddles say they do an effective job of patrolling downtown streets, Balboa Park and the beaches. But the City Council, faced with a $40-million budget shortage, has decided to phase out the Police Department’s horse patrol unit, saying it is an inefficient use of resources.

The department’s four-horse unit has been cut from the city budget, and its three officers and one sergeant are scheduled to be reassigned. The horses will probably be sold at auction, officials say.

“Because we don’t have the money to expand the Police Department, we need to use every dollar wisely,” City Councilman Ron Roberts said Friday. “The horse patrol just doesn’t give us the results for the money we put into it.”

“It’s hard to maintain an esprit de corps, since we’re not sure if we’re cut or not,” said Sgt. Bob Nunley, supervisor of the unit.

Assistant City Manager Jack McGrory said the horse unit could be restored during budget hearings, being held through Thursday.

Roberts said that, by sacrificing the specialized unit, officers can be put back on the streets where they are needed. He initially proposed disbanding the 8-year-old unit late last February as part of efforts to curb the budget deficit.

“It’s not that we’re disparaging their work, but the horse patrol unit just seems to take up a large number of resources for the crime-fighting time that they actually do,” said Mike Abrams, an aide to Roberts.

Nunley said the mounted unit has advantages over foot officers and patrol vehicles.

“With a horse, the officer’s visibility is high and people have the perception that police are around. It serves as a crime deterrent,” he said.

The unit, which operates out of the department’s 10-stall barn in Balboa Park’s Gold Gulch, are often called in for crowd control during parades, large athletic events and Fourth of July beach parties.

“It’s been said that an officer on a horse is equal to 20 on foot when it comes to crowd control,” Nunley said. Besides, he said, the unit gets a high approval rating from the public.

“There’s something magical about horses that draws people to them. People don’t seem to mind as much when a mounted officer issues a citation.”

The six-officer harbor police unit that patrols Mission Bay by boat is also scheduled to be disbanded. Roberts said there is less enthusiasm to restore the horse unit than to keep the harbor patrol.

“We’d like to have the horse unit, but we just can’t afford it,” said Abrams. “Nobody has provided enough evidence to show that we can afford it. We really heard very little in defense of the patrol unit from the city manager or the police.”

McGrory listed the unit’s 1989-90 budget at $464,000, with $400,000 of that allocated to salaries and benefits. The city manager’s office projected a savings of $64,000 if the unit is eliminated.

Nunley said he figured actual savings to be no more than $35,000.

“If we stopped the unit and then decided to restart it in another three years or so, it would cost over $300,000,” he said, adding that, because the unit already owns the horses and facilities, it is easy to maintain.

But Abrams said cost is not the only issue.

“We were initially told the savings would be more,” he said. “But it’s not really a question of the money. We’re concerned about the efficient use of the resources that we do have.

“We felt that it needed to be eliminated because, when we met and asked the Police Department about it, they told us that 40% to 60% of the officer’s time was spent training the animals,” Abrams said. “We could more efficiently use the officers out on actual beats.”

Two horses are usually out on the streets each day, according to Nunley, who said that only 25% of an officer’s time is spent taking care of the horses. Officers must do some stable work because they have only one stable attendant. “We were cut down from two civilian officers, who worked seven days a week, to one last July,” Nunley said.

Now, with only one stable attendant who works five days a week, officers must care for the horses on weekends and when the attendant is sick or on vacation, he said.

The city should be thinking about expanding the stable, not cutting it, Nunley said.

“When we’re in the park, we have the ability to patrol the canyon and other areas that are not accessible to the motor vehicles,” said officer Wayne McKinnon, a seven-year veteran of the unit. “When we’re downtown, we can ride against traffic on the sidewalk and respond to reports in the downtown area quicker.”

Former City Councilman Bill Mitchell, whose proposal initiated the unit in 1982, said a study conducted in 1978 showed horse patrols were more effective than patrol cars.

“In Chicago, the number of crimes in high-crime rate areas dropped when they brought in horse patrols. A person on the back of a horse has a commanding presence and is very visible compared to patrol cars,” he said.

“The council’s crazy to close it down. The public relations and rapport the horses have with the public, which is just a spinoff of its purpose of providing public safety, makes it worth it,” Mitchell said.