The Associated Press
Portland, Maine (AP) -- Mounted police patrols in the state’s largest city this summer will be on mountain bikes instead of horses.
For the first time in at least 16 years, the Portland Police Department won’t have a mounted patrol this summer. Chief Michael Chitwood said he can’t spare the two officers needed for regular patrols.
Chitwood said he has always liked the mounted patrol, and that it is popular among tourists and residents. Members of the community have even donated money to buy the horses and pay for their care, he said.
But the officers are better used elsewhere.
“The numbers of calls for service and arrests that we’ve been making for public drunkenness has never been as high as it has been this summer,” Chitwood said. “This has been the worst summer in the world.”
Chitwood said the mounted patrol has enhanced the department’s visibility, and that officers on horseback were helpful for crowd control, but that for now, the department is more efficient without them.
The chief said he hopes to reinstate the program next year.
His plan is to recruit officers who want to ride, have them trained in Boston in September and have them on their horses downtown by next Memorial Day.