Buena Park Turns Down Offer From Police for Mounted Unit

Police officers this week offered to provide their own horses to form a mounted police unit, but City Council members fearing horse droppings and future expenses voted the idea down.

When Police Chief Richard M. Tefank broached the idea to the council, Councilman Jack W. Mauller’s first question was, “Who cleans up the poop?”

Precise feeding schedules generally take care of that problem, and the officers would be equipped with plastic Baggies just in case, Tefank said. But some council members were skeptical, voting 3 to 2 against it.

The Police Department had pulled together a proposal earlier this month, when Sgt. Gary Jackson and Officers Chris Charalambous, Jim Hayes and Bill Kohanek offered to combine their equestrian experience with their police work. They would supply their own horses, trailers and other accouterments, which would have allowed them all tax deductions, Tefank said.

The only cost to the city would have been $346 per officer for hats, jeans, boots and a saddle cover printed with the police logo.

The unit would not be called on every day but would be available for summer activities, parking lot patrols, the 4th of July, Silverado Days and other occasions when officers might need the better vantage point provided by mounting a horse.

“This is not a unique concept,” Tefank said. “In the years that horses have been in operation in Orange County, there have been no citizen complaints.”

But Councilman Jerry Sigler said he did not want to see horse droppings “up and down the Entertainment Corridor.”