Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 31, 1993 TAG: 9307310169
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
You can donate your horse for the unit, which will serve in downtown Roanoke. If your horse scores at the top in a rating system, it might be chosen.
Downtown Roanoke Inc. and city police are considering offers of horses for the mounted service that will begin in December.
One owner has already offered to donate a horse for the unit, which will have three horses.
Officials prefer the horses to be donated, but they will buy them if the donated animals are not acceptable.
To be selected, the horses must have a gentle disposition and be unruffled by activity around them. They must be trained to stand still.
Preferably, the horses should be 5 to 12 years old, but this is not mandatory.
No specific breed is required, but there are several possibilities: Arabian, Quarter, Tennessee Walking, Morgan or English Shires, among others.
Downtown Roanoke, which is providing most of the money for the mounted police, has appointed a committee to rate and select the horses. The three police officers who will ride the animals will serve on the committee.
There will be two mounted officers in downtown most of the time. A third officer and horse will be available for backup duty and fill in for others if they are off duty.
When there are large crowds downtown for events such as Festival in the Park, police may use all three mounted officers.
Joseph Wright, past president of Downtown Roanoke, said the organization is accepting cash contributions, as well as horses, for the unit. It already has received $1,000.
The startup costs could be as much as $75,000 the first year, Wright said, but could run lower, depending on the equipment that is donated.
Wright is chairman of the committee that is overseeing the mounted police program .
Downtown Roanoke Inc. is creating a non-profit corporation to receive gifts and finance the mounted police. The city is paying the salaries and fringe benefits for the police officers, but Downtown Roanoke is paying most of the other costs.
Wright said the committee hopes to choose the horses by Sept. 1 so the bonding process between the officers and horses can begin before they enroll in a 10-week training course.
The officers and horses will be trained by the National Park Service in Maryland. The horses will remain in Maryland for the 10 weeks, but Wright said Downtown Roanoke hopes to raise enough money to pay for a trip home every other weekend for the officers.
The training will be finished by early December, before the mounted units are to begin work during the Christmas shopping season.
Police Maj. Don Shields said the three officers will be chosen next week.
While the officers on horses will be an added attraction for shoppers and tourists in downtown, their primary job will be police work, Wright said. "Above all, they will be police officers," he said.
The mounted officers will replace two officers who patrol downtown on foot and a scooter, Shields said. The officers will be taught how to make arrests, issue parking and traffic tickets, direct traffic and perform other duties while on their horses.
"The officers will dismount only in the case of emergencies," he said.
Shields said the officers will give the police higher visibility in downtown, making shoppers and others feel more secure.
The horses won't be used if the temperature rises above 92 degrees, or drops below 32, when they are in danger of falling on ice.
The officers will handle the daily bathing and grooming of their animals. "It will be part of the bonding between the officers and the horses," Wright said.
Downtown Roanoke will hire someone to clean the stables on Cleveland Avenue where the horses will be kept, he said.
Both the downtown organization and police are committed to the mounted service for at least three years.
by CNB