SEATTLE—The Seattle Police Department announced on September 30 the decommissioning of its Mounted Patrol Unit due to the loss of hundreds of officers over the past four years.
“As SPD continues to recover from loss of hundreds of officers over the past four years, we have to carefully prioritize how to use existing scarce resources,” SPD released in a statement. “The highest priority is maintaining the ability to respond quickly to emergency calls, and effectively investigate dangerous criminal behavior so the community is protected. This requires that we reduce resources for work that does not directly support these two priorities.”
The decommissioning process will begin immediately and take several months. The department hopes that some of its former patrol horses might serve the community “in other ways, such as therapy horses” and will also consider giving back the horses to their previous owners.
The Mounted Patrol Unit has a 150-year legacy with Seattle PD and has been utilized for crowd control and patrolling city parks. However, over the past decade, due to lack of resources, the unit has been downsized and is primarily used for community events, ceremonies, and memorial services.
The downsized mission of the unit has been made possible through supplemental funding from generous donations from individuals and organizations, SPD says.
Maintaining a mounted patrol unit is complex and cannot be “started and stopped” as resources fluctuate. The horses require and deserve a great deal of ongoing care, which requires expensive facilities, trainers and caretakers to ensure the health and well-being of the horses, even when they are not being used by police.
Despite an active recruiting program, staff remains abysmal within the Seattle Police Department since the defund the police movement swept through the region in 2020, which critics said fueled antipolice sentiment and antipolice hatred.
Since 2019, the Seattle Police Department seen 669 officers resign, according to an article in Center Square.
At the end of 2023, the force had 1,002 fully trained officers and new estimates expect that number to drop to 992 by the end of 2024, the lowest in 30 years, according to King 5. The department had 424 police officers working patrol as of December 31, 2023. To be fully staffed, SPD’s goal is approximately 1,400 fully trained officers.
FEATURED IMAGE: Photo courtesy of the Seattle Police Foundation
Author: Mario Lotmore
