Worcester, Massachusetts, has chosen to retire its mounted police unit in response to staffing shortages, a decision announced by Interim Police Chief Paul Saucier earlier today. This move is projected to save the department $160,000, a sum that will be redirected to the training budget and aid the city in hiring more officers to ensure Worcester's safety as reported by Boston 25 News.
Chief Saucier expressed that, while the Mounted Division did prove quite effective in community policing, the decision to disband the unit was crucial for the city's overall welfare. Following a cost-benefit analysis, they deemed it necessary to retire the horses to fill pressing police officer vacancies, ensuring a quicker response to emergency calls according to Telegram.
The Worcester mounted police unit was first established in 2017, after a seven-decade-long hiatus that had started in the 1940s. Throughout the years, the mounted officers served as goodwill ambassadors for the city, attending community events, increasing police visibility, and offering valuable support for crowd control at large gatherings as per article of Telegram.
The unit's involvement in community events included the National 2022 Night Out at Fuller Family Park and the 2022 Back to School Bash at Institute Park. Most recently, mounted officers engaged with students at Lincoln Street School. As much as the community will miss the mounted police unit, the City of Worcester's priority now lies in effectively responding to the urgency to increase uniformed officer presence as article of Boston 25 News.
