PITTSBURGH — In December, Pittsburgh City Council unanimously voted to disband the city’s mounted police unit, but Channel 11 Chief Investigative Reporter Rick Earle has learned exclusively that the unit isn’t going away just yet.
Earle discovered that some city councilmembers have now asked the public safety director to delay disbanding the unit as they try to figure out a way to save it.
Earle spoke with Councilman Anthony Coghill after Wednesday’s city council meeting.
Earle: “There could be a last-ditch effort to save the unit?”
Coghill: “It’s a possibility. We are talking about it.”
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Funding for the mounted unit is set to expire at the end of June, but Coghill just requested a two-month delay, as he and other council members are now exploring ways to keep the horses.
“We are going to keep the horses right where they are at for now,” Coghill said. “No immediate action on that until myself and Councilman (Bob) Charland and Councilwoman (Theresa) Kail-Smith is involved with those talks, and we have to talk to other members as well as how we are going to find the funding.”
Because of cost concerns and staffing issues, council voted last year to discontinue funding the mounted unit at the end of June. The money was supposed to be reallocated to the Department of Mobility and Infrastructure.
The mounted unit has been around since 2017, when it was reinstated after a 14-year hiatus.
Former Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich and former Police Commander Ed Trapp spearheaded the effort to bring the unit back.
Hissrich and Trapp got all of the horses, saddles and bridles donated. The city rents a barn, and officers run the unit.
Critics have said the unit costs more than half a million dollars a year, but supporters say that includes officer salaries.
Supporters say the costs of the barn, feed and vet bills is far less. They say the price tag is more like $100,000, not half a million.
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“That would be fantastic news. The mounted unit is a storied, legacy unit in the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police,” said Beth Pittinger, executive director of the Citizen Police Review Board.
Pittinger believes the unit is critically important to the bureau, especially for community-police relations.
“People all around know about the horses, and the kids in the schools, and just out in the community,” Pittinger said. “They are a tremendous public relations resource.”
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And with recent crowd control issues on the South Side as well as the upcoming 250th birthday of the country and the NFL draft in Pittsburgh next year, some say the horses could play a vital role.
“We had great success on St. Patrick’s Day using the mounted unit,” said councilman Bob Charland. “And if the mounted unit is willing to help work with being more than just a petting zone, if they actually want to do crowd control, I welcome that with open arms.”
Council members asked the public safety director to give them until the end of August to find the money to fund the unit.
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