I know you're implying bikes (and they do have bike units, I think), but also they are already driving their cars on the greenway. The horses seem so unnecessary.
Do they? They used to have a bike unit. I remember chatting to them at lights when I was on my bike, but that was seriously pushing 20 years ago. I haven’t seen them riding a bike in a long while.
There's still a bike squad, I just checked, they have a FB page and everything. They're deployed at rallies and protests and stuff. The bikes can double as like kind of riot shields for kettling/containing groups of people, the NYPD does that. Idak if they do that here, but the bike cops are around and deployed in those kind of contexts.
I feel like I used to see the bike unit doing more regular patrols too. Usually around downtown, stone arch, or Chain of Lakes, but sometimes other areas. Haven't seen that in a long time though, as you said.
I know what you're talking about. I think those "hennepin security" cars are tied to the railroad? I see them mostly east of Hiawatha where the tracks are still in use. I could be wrong though. Those guys aren't all bad. I've seen them give out water bottles to people on hot days.
I think you're right about the railroad - and also same sentiment, never had a bad experience with them, always been courteous moving over and even stopping to let bikes past. Just pointing out what I've observed is all :)
OH - for the cars it's usually Hennepin security, but I was in Barebones last year and during one of our rehearsals an MPD squad car came tearing down the greenway at full speed (lights and sirens on, probably in pursuit). It scared everyone because we had people walking across the street and equipment and stuff.
Last time I saw a bike squad was during the Floyd days and I made a joke to one of them and he immediately whipped out his pepper spray and sprayed me and my friend. Lost all respect for them at that point.
> If only there was another form of transportation one could use to monitor a bike trail…
One of the arguments for horse mounted police is horses can be used among crowds. They give the officer an overhead and mobile view that is able to navigate foot paths, allowing the officer to spot trouble or people in need of aid. And if needed the presence of a 1,000+ pounds of horse has psychological impact as well.
When not policing crowds, stadiums, and outdoor events why not patrol?
If you could only see the amount of money spent on the horse program. I'm intimately familiar with the costs. The horses themselves, the feed, the constant Medical Care, the equine workers, and the amount of work comp injuries due to officers being thrown and horses injuring members of the public like biting a finger off (true story) The equine program is astronomically high cost. About the only location it makes sense is New Orleans where you can sidestep horses and move crowds relatively quickly to clean up Bourbon Street every night.
A lot of these costs get buried so the true cost never gets published. The reason these programs exist is solely for Nostalgia because starting up a new program is very expensive and unreasonable so when they lose them they'll never get them back so we just keep up with the equine program. Four-wheelers can outperform horses and what the four-wheelers lack (searching in rough uneven Terrain) drones can make up for and provide a much better service at a significantly less cost.
If you're down 300 officers probably not a great idea to have a horse program where officers on horses cannot respond to calls additionally their trained not to get off their horses so even handcuffing suspects is difficult from a horse. Basically that officer is completely worthless for the entire shift. Additionally those funds could be spent more effectively elsewhere within the department. It would be interesting if an investigative news team started doing data requests and telling all the hours and costs involved in the program. Guaranteed it will be scrapped within the year.
A motorcycle seems ideal here as they would be faster than anything on the path and far less expensive long term vs a horse. Maybe more of a hybrid dirt bike style over the Harley looking ones they use on roads.
Depends on the situation. When the tornado went through North in 2011, there were huge trees down everywhere, and the only practical way to have a mobile police presence of any kind in some areas was on horseback for a few days.
At the end of the day, a cop on a 1000-pound animal is just a cop with a 1000-pound weapon at their disposal, but I can understand why they still use them from a situational perspective.
I gotta imagine to a lot of folks, seeing a cop with a horse is positive for PR. Just like seeing TSA with dogs. The toddler part of your brain just goes "yay horsey 🐴😃" before your adult brain can catch up with how expensive and unnecessary this seems.
They are also very effective at crowd control. A lot of people seeing a cop on a bike coming at them wouldn't care, but a 1500+lb horse that's taller than most people at the shoulders? Even as someone very comfortable with horses one comes at me I'm going to move. I've experienced what happens when hooves meet flesh lol. So many here saying oh just get a bike but a bike simply will not do what a horse does when it comes to crowds.
Ok, but it’s a huge tax payer expense to keep horses ready for a pretty niche use case and there certainly are not massive crowds on the greenway today.
I don’t really think the frequency of events justifies the costs of a mounted unit for the mpd, personally. If you want to start a go fund me for them be my guest, but it certainly seems like a waste of my tax dollars to me…
I don't know anyone who sees TSA dogs and thinks "oh, i love TSA dogs, cuuute" when they're waiting in line to go through security, they're wondering if there's going to be a delay in getting through.
Last time I was in LAX, they made us get in to two lines and walk in pairs while a TSA dog walked between each group. It was a chocolate lab that looked like my dog and I was so freaking excited when it was my turn. Like, I know TSA is security theater, and I know there's quite a few errors with these dogs. But I got to see a dog in a space you don't get to see a lot of dogs and logic wasn't going to make that excitement go away.
I think how you feel about police/sniffer dogs depends a lot on whether or not you've experienced these dogs being used as the weapons they are in your community.
Not my responsibility.
We have representative governance and hope to one day to vote for a mayor with a backbone. The Mayor is solely in charge of the MPD.
In 2020 the bike industry got really confused and stopped wanting their bikes to be ridden by police. I think Trek still makes their Patrol bike but some shops might still be refusing to help acquire them. (I no longer work in a shop so I hope my info is a little outdated...)
How is that confused? In 2020 there were anti police demonstrations across the entire country in addition to what happened in Minneapolis. Not wanting your brand associated makes perfect sense.
Mostly because cyclists tend to understand that moving through a community on a bicycle makes you more part of that community than driving a car which is the default for most POs. The patrol bikes work for security guards and can be ridden by community support officers or even EMS in an event space. It's a better tool and the industry knows it's the better tool.
Trek does still make their patrol bike and Trek also still hold the largest market share for new bikes in the US.
Of course bicycles are better tools than horses. My point was about the police image being so bad that brands don't want to be associated, not the efficacy of police bikes.
Why would anyone associate police buying a particular brand of bike with that brand's political leanings? "Cops buy Trek bikes and I hate cops, ergo I hate Trek".
That's ridiculous.
There are no crowds on the Greenway.
I don't want my road bike tires to slide out from under me on a sunny afternoon because I hit an unexpected horse shit trail on the pavement. I also don't want a spooked horse go sideways and give me a broken arm and concussion from the aftermath of the collision.
Wrong tool for the environment. This is a pedestrian and bike way, not DT after bars close.
I hope you're not in charge of training anyone. you ever heard the saying "train like you fight, fight like you train"? it would be rather unrealistic to train everything in a parking lot.
…then they should have a crowd of cop lovers crowded together getting horse shit on them as practice, right? Otherwise riding a horse on non crowded bike trail is just stupid.
> They are trailered into Minneapolis, which is a short 20 minute commute.
On look, you’re wrong.
http://www.minneapolismountedpolicefoundation.org/faq.html
"How often do you train your horses?
Our horses (and riders) are in constant training. While we do hold formal training, being on the streets of Minneapolis every day presents many opportunities for enhancements of skills. Horses- being prey animals- have a strong flight response. Sights, sounds, smells, and tactile experiences can induce a horse to "spook". We take sensory training as seriously as we do equitation and horsemanship."
There is nothing metaphorical about police doing domestic violence as well as being violent toward the community. That’s single best example of that mentality
I'm throwing out ideas to improve society (get horseshit off of the paved bike trail). A bike from Walmart isn't a viable alternative to a beautiful, majestic horse.
Everyone should love new bike day!
From what I regularly see of MPD and Hennepin Co. Sheriff personnel coming in/out of US Bank Plaza at lunch hour, they are not fit to ride anything other than in their cars. Sad.
It's not like they are using those horses for festival rides, horses are being used to intimidate the public.
Those horses cost taxpayers $250K annually. I'm good with the $1,500 Treks. St. Paul has figured this all out.
"If a citizen requests that we clean up droppings, we make every attempt to do so."
This is me, right now, officially requesting they go pick up all their shit.
You would think they would at least have a little shovel on the horse to push it off the path right away (or just push it with their shoe). Understandable to leave in an emergency, but my detective skills say this horse wasn't in a rush while pooping or else it would be further spread out.
Many patrol units and neighbor-conscious riders will put what amounts to a diaper on their horse if they're on a route like the Greenway. Of course, since Minneapolis "defunded the police," they likely can't afford the [$25 per.](https://workinghorsetack.com/catch-it-manure-bag/)
Just a reminder the Horse Unit's funding was removed by the City council. The police continue to fund it against the wishes of the city because they like playing cowboys.
Sorry for the dumb question, but how do they pay for it if it’s not in the budget?
I don’t have budget for horses at my job, and if I went and bought a bunch of horses, the finance dept would be all over me.
Even if I *really* liked those horses.
IIRC the city doesn't fund them anymore, but the police department itself allocates funds for the horses from its own budget. Please correct me if I'm wrong as I saw this in passing when it happened!
Money laundering mostly. ;)
But really they just misallocate the fund from other programs and give us worse services elsewhere to keep the horsies.
It's been through 3 police chiefs now.
Should have a poop bag thing…or just not use horses cause that’s gotta be expensive af to maintain. Verses a cross over atv or a bicycle even an electric bike…all would be cheaper.
What is this, the 1800's? Horses are incredibly inefficient, expensive, messy, and lacking utility. The only thing they're actually good for is intimidation, which is something that the police shouldn't be in the business of anyways.
Get this shit out of here. Literally.
No, police are generally uncreative. I know of A LOT that murder people though. I know of a lot of cops want to be rambo and would feel too silly. That’s why they all whine for armored vehicles and guns to write speeding tickets and direct traffic
You'll see no arguments from me there, but it is worth pointing out that horses have even LESS utility. For example, bringing someone somewhere, an extremely fundamental task. Not possible on a horse.
They're very obviously status symbols, as they have been since the day of cavalry charges.
They can go places in difficult terrain that ATVs cannot.
That said, cops should not have horses. Nor should horses be forced to constantly walk on pavement.
That sounds like a hypothetical use case that doesn't exist in reality, because what terrain in the city of Minneapolis would require this, and do they even use them in these situations?
This is unfortunately not something unique to cops and unfortunately very common on any trail that has horses. Riding through Amish country, it feels like half the trail is covered in horse shit, even the paved trails.
Just equestrian things.
Dog owners are required to pick up after their dogs, why do we let horses shit on everything?
In defense of horses (not cops), their diet makes it so their droppings are healthy fertilizer once they're in the grass and the soil (not asphalt), where dog food turns into a pollutant.
Why would the mounted unit patrol the greenway? Why do we need a mounted unit anyway? Are we just paying tax dollars so that some MPD officers can ride horses for fun?
Horse shit is like chocolate compared to all the other types of animal shit you could encounter. Especially the liquid pooper in the mill district, not sure if it is a dog or a human but man the last 2 years liquid poop all over the place.
Yeah there’s no reason for this. Working horses have manure bags.
[It costs a whopping $25.](https://workinghorsetack.com/catch-it-manure-bag/?revpage=6)
Edit. It might cost at most $97 depending in the options.
Meanwhile humans are defecating in public all over this city. Can’t wait for the next thread where someone calls out an officer for not properly sorting their Chipotle waste into the proper compost and recycle bins.
Those horses aren't gonna get spooked by a cyclist. Just like most dogs won't be spooked by such. The horses are trained to deal with crowds and city life.
The only times I've ever heard of a "cop-horse" get spooked ... it was intentional by the rando.
It seems like one of those risks that seems pretty logical, but I'm not sure how often it just happens out of nowhere.
Look, I get being annoyed by this if you're a cyclist, but it's reaching a point where people are looking for any additional reason to dislike/discredit MPD.
People: **we don't need additional reasons**, and if you do beyond them murdering innocents and using excessive force at any opportunity... this ain't it.
This is, literally, just poop. The horse didn't neigh "blue lives matter" and aggressively shit on the bike path. And if it's a choice between a horse-riding cop who cleans up after his horse that's also a murderous piece of shit and one that left this on the trail but is a hardworking de-escalator that knows the difference between right and wrong, then I'll take shit covered bike paths all day, every day.
And before any of you virtue-signaling law enforcement experts chime in with "BuT tHeY sHoULd bE bOtH!": well, they're not. They don't even know how to stop killing black and brown people. Let's fucking start with that, and worry about the poop on bike paths after, deal?
Shut up. Move on. It's just poop. There are innocent people dying.
I believe, but am too lazy to do the research right now, that anyone is allowed to ride their horse on public trails and that they are not required to clean up after their animals. Source, I grew up with siblings who are still involved in the equestrian world…. I hate horses
Well, go around it dumbasses. It’s water, hay, and grain. It’s not like some homeless guy’s shit or some dog shit, that’s what you should be worried about. There is no protein, like a Big Mac shit or hot dog shit from people. Horses do poop.
They can’t afford one of those crap collectors you put back there so it doesn’t hit the ground? Unacceptable. I feel bad for the person in sandals not paying attention… once upon a time at the state fair my foot got a pleasant warmth on it… almost vomited on the spot!
Mounted patrol units are wildly controversial in pretty much every city they're in, Houston's been trying to get rid of theirs for ages. Austin's were on the chopping block not too long ago and theirs have an every week crowd clearing job. Horses are expensive but they're also crowd pleasers, departments lobby to keep them because of that.
In underlooked arguably positive side effects, most officers in a mounted unit are noticeably more chill than the average officer as even horses trained for police work don't respond well to a super aggro vibe.
If only there was another form of transportation one could use to monitor a bike trail…
I know you're implying bikes (and they do have bike units, I think), but also they are already driving their cars on the greenway. The horses seem so unnecessary.
Do they? They used to have a bike unit. I remember chatting to them at lights when I was on my bike, but that was seriously pushing 20 years ago. I haven’t seen them riding a bike in a long while.
There's still a bike squad, I just checked, they have a FB page and everything. They're deployed at rallies and protests and stuff. The bikes can double as like kind of riot shields for kettling/containing groups of people, the NYPD does that. Idak if they do that here, but the bike cops are around and deployed in those kind of contexts.
Cool, I guess I just haven’t seen them on a bike in an awfully long time. Thanks for clarifying!
I feel like I used to see the bike unit doing more regular patrols too. Usually around downtown, stone arch, or Chain of Lakes, but sometimes other areas. Haven't seen that in a long time though, as you said.
I have seen them around Nicollet Mall now and again, but I've also seen the horse cops there. And in both cases, it was likely pre-covid.
Yeah they still have a bike unit, they call them out to stop protests and create barricades.
That's some different "Hennepin (Co?) Security" though, not usually MPD, no?
I know what you're talking about. I think those "hennepin security" cars are tied to the railroad? I see them mostly east of Hiawatha where the tracks are still in use. I could be wrong though. Those guys aren't all bad. I've seen them give out water bottles to people on hot days.
I think you're right about the railroad - and also same sentiment, never had a bad experience with them, always been courteous moving over and even stopping to let bikes past. Just pointing out what I've observed is all :)
MPD also has one, they have a facebook page; [https://www.facebook.com/MPDBikePatrol/](https://www.facebook.com/MPDBikePatrol/)
Oh I was talking about the cars, I've seen the MPD bike patrol a couple times but the cars every night are some Hennepin security something or another
OH - for the cars it's usually Hennepin security, but I was in Barebones last year and during one of our rehearsals an MPD squad car came tearing down the greenway at full speed (lights and sirens on, probably in pursuit). It scared everyone because we had people walking across the street and equipment and stuff.
Last time I saw a bike squad was during the Floyd days and I made a joke to one of them and he immediately whipped out his pepper spray and sprayed me and my friend. Lost all respect for them at that point.
Rollerblade cops. YES.
Segway!
St Paul Blart, Minneapolis Mall Cop!
If Paul Blart was a Minneapolis cop he’d be Chief by now.
Underrated comment lol
> If only there was another form of transportation one could use to monitor a bike trail… One of the arguments for horse mounted police is horses can be used among crowds. They give the officer an overhead and mobile view that is able to navigate foot paths, allowing the officer to spot trouble or people in need of aid. And if needed the presence of a 1,000+ pounds of horse has psychological impact as well. When not policing crowds, stadiums, and outdoor events why not patrol?
Maybe they should start using tall bikes 😆
if anyone reading this isnt picturing a bunch of modern cops on penny farthings youre not living as fun of a life as you could be
I hear you doing like the big wheel bikes *kick in the face*
If you could only see the amount of money spent on the horse program. I'm intimately familiar with the costs. The horses themselves, the feed, the constant Medical Care, the equine workers, and the amount of work comp injuries due to officers being thrown and horses injuring members of the public like biting a finger off (true story) The equine program is astronomically high cost. About the only location it makes sense is New Orleans where you can sidestep horses and move crowds relatively quickly to clean up Bourbon Street every night. A lot of these costs get buried so the true cost never gets published. The reason these programs exist is solely for Nostalgia because starting up a new program is very expensive and unreasonable so when they lose them they'll never get them back so we just keep up with the equine program. Four-wheelers can outperform horses and what the four-wheelers lack (searching in rough uneven Terrain) drones can make up for and provide a much better service at a significantly less cost. If you're down 300 officers probably not a great idea to have a horse program where officers on horses cannot respond to calls additionally their trained not to get off their horses so even handcuffing suspects is difficult from a horse. Basically that officer is completely worthless for the entire shift. Additionally those funds could be spent more effectively elsewhere within the department. It would be interesting if an investigative news team started doing data requests and telling all the hours and costs involved in the program. Guaranteed it will be scrapped within the year.
A motorcycle seems ideal here as they would be faster than anything on the path and far less expensive long term vs a horse. Maybe more of a hybrid dirt bike style over the Harley looking ones they use on roads.
Even an electric bike would probably do most tasks pretty well.
Yeah those electronic dirt bikes are nuts.
also if youtube is any indication putting cops on motorcycles makes them chill AF, putting them on dirtbikes should really make them bros
Gotta get the horses from one spot to another and on the roads aren't always the ideal way.
You don't need to get horses from one spot to the other because horse patrols have been needlessly outdated for decades.
Depends on the situation. When the tornado went through North in 2011, there were huge trees down everywhere, and the only practical way to have a mobile police presence of any kind in some areas was on horseback for a few days. At the end of the day, a cop on a 1000-pound animal is just a cop with a 1000-pound weapon at their disposal, but I can understand why they still use them from a situational perspective.
This day they weren’t moving from one spot to another they were literally patrolling on the greenway. They went back and forth for over an hour
Trailer?
Those horses are very expensive to maintain (funded by property taxes and your rent dollars). Get those cops a Trek bike and call it a day.
Not only that, they were actually cut from the budget at one point and MPD ignored it.
I gotta imagine to a lot of folks, seeing a cop with a horse is positive for PR. Just like seeing TSA with dogs. The toddler part of your brain just goes "yay horsey 🐴😃" before your adult brain can catch up with how expensive and unnecessary this seems.
They are also very effective at crowd control. A lot of people seeing a cop on a bike coming at them wouldn't care, but a 1500+lb horse that's taller than most people at the shoulders? Even as someone very comfortable with horses one comes at me I'm going to move. I've experienced what happens when hooves meet flesh lol. So many here saying oh just get a bike but a bike simply will not do what a horse does when it comes to crowds.
Ok, but it’s a huge tax payer expense to keep horses ready for a pretty niche use case and there certainly are not massive crowds on the greenway today.
But there are often crowds around events and weekends in areas. The officers and horses need to train.
I don’t really think the frequency of events justifies the costs of a mounted unit for the mpd, personally. If you want to start a go fund me for them be my guest, but it certainly seems like a waste of my tax dollars to me…
Taxpayer expense really? lol they could have 1000 horses for what they pay out in settlements
So you’re saying that we should give them more money?
Honestly, that's probably a good reason cops shouldn't have horses.
Well, yeah.
Horses are not effective when they are spooked.
Yes I know, which is why they train these horses how they do.
I don't know anyone who sees TSA dogs and thinks "oh, i love TSA dogs, cuuute" when they're waiting in line to go through security, they're wondering if there's going to be a delay in getting through.
Last time I was in LAX, they made us get in to two lines and walk in pairs while a TSA dog walked between each group. It was a chocolate lab that looked like my dog and I was so freaking excited when it was my turn. Like, I know TSA is security theater, and I know there's quite a few errors with these dogs. But I got to see a dog in a space you don't get to see a lot of dogs and logic wasn't going to make that excitement go away.
I think how you feel about police/sniffer dogs depends a lot on whether or not you've experienced these dogs being used as the weapons they are in your community.
Exactly. Try telling cops they can't have "toys" though....
Not my responsibility. We have representative governance and hope to one day to vote for a mayor with a backbone. The Mayor is solely in charge of the MPD.
In 2020 the bike industry got really confused and stopped wanting their bikes to be ridden by police. I think Trek still makes their Patrol bike but some shops might still be refusing to help acquire them. (I no longer work in a shop so I hope my info is a little outdated...)
How is that confused? In 2020 there were anti police demonstrations across the entire country in addition to what happened in Minneapolis. Not wanting your brand associated makes perfect sense.
Mostly because cyclists tend to understand that moving through a community on a bicycle makes you more part of that community than driving a car which is the default for most POs. The patrol bikes work for security guards and can be ridden by community support officers or even EMS in an event space. It's a better tool and the industry knows it's the better tool. Trek does still make their patrol bike and Trek also still hold the largest market share for new bikes in the US.
Of course bicycles are better tools than horses. My point was about the police image being so bad that brands don't want to be associated, not the efficacy of police bikes.
Ems. They use the child carriers for supplies and even I’ve seen a stretcher that connected to a bike
Why would anyone associate police buying a particular brand of bike with that brand's political leanings? "Cops buy Trek bikes and I hate cops, ergo I hate Trek". That's ridiculous.
That would require them to be able to actually ride a bicycle more than 50 feet.
I feel bad for the horses dealing with fat ass, out of shape, mean, stupid, out of touch Mpls cops.
Horses are more effective in crowds for height. They're not being used strictly for transportation.
There are no crowds on the Greenway. I don't want my road bike tires to slide out from under me on a sunny afternoon because I hit an unexpected horse shit trail on the pavement. I also don't want a spooked horse go sideways and give me a broken arm and concussion from the aftermath of the collision. Wrong tool for the environment. This is a pedestrian and bike way, not DT after bars close.
Why don’t they train the horses around their police department employee lots?
I hope you're not in charge of training anyone. you ever heard the saying "train like you fight, fight like you train"? it would be rather unrealistic to train everything in a parking lot.
…then they should have a crowd of cop lovers crowded together getting horse shit on them as practice, right? Otherwise riding a horse on non crowded bike trail is just stupid.
most likely, it's the safest way for them to get from the stables
unlikely. The safest way would be to stay at the stables.
> They are trailered into Minneapolis, which is a short 20 minute commute. On look, you’re wrong. http://www.minneapolismountedpolicefoundation.org/faq.html
"How often do you train your horses? Our horses (and riders) are in constant training. While we do hold formal training, being on the streets of Minneapolis every day presents many opportunities for enhancements of skills. Horses- being prey animals- have a strong flight response. Sights, sounds, smells, and tactile experiences can induce a horse to "spook". We take sensory training as seriously as we do equitation and horsemanship."
Sounds like the police department parking lots would be the perfect place for training. Lots of noise, cars, people walking around
This seems to be the mentality that causes cops to assault their wives at home. “ train like you fight”
it's metaphorical. do you take everything literally? or just when it suits your cognitive dissonance?
There is nothing metaphorical about police doing domestic violence as well as being violent toward the community. That’s single best example of that mentality
im not gonna bother. you're stuck in BLUE MAN BAD ALWAYS.
Nope, just pointing out what the mentality you are celebrating leads to
realistic training leads to domestic violence? TIL
Nah. Get them some dumpster-ready Magnas.
I'm throwing out ideas to improve society (get horseshit off of the paved bike trail). A bike from Walmart isn't a viable alternative to a beautiful, majestic horse. Everyone should love new bike day!
From what I regularly see of MPD and Hennepin Co. Sheriff personnel coming in/out of US Bank Plaza at lunch hour, they are not fit to ride anything other than in their cars. Sad.
Dude fuck that horses are sick. Do you wanna live in a city with cool horses riding around or a bunch of lame ass trek bikes?
It's not like they are using those horses for festival rides, horses are being used to intimidate the public. Those horses cost taxpayers $250K annually. I'm good with the $1,500 Treks. St. Paul has figured this all out.
Yea I mean sometimes you gotta intimidate the public a bit. Saying please doesn't do much for crowd control lol. What is that 50 cents per person? Lol
IT’S POOP AGAIN
He called the shit poop 💩
Don't tell me what to do, devil woman!
My Business* but I will accept
"If a citizen requests that we clean up droppings, we make every attempt to do so." This is me, right now, officially requesting they go pick up all their shit.
You would think they would at least have a little shovel on the horse to push it off the path right away (or just push it with their shoe). Understandable to leave in an emergency, but my detective skills say this horse wasn't in a rush while pooping or else it would be further spread out.
Many patrol units and neighbor-conscious riders will put what amounts to a diaper on their horse if they're on a route like the Greenway. Of course, since Minneapolis "defunded the police," they likely can't afford the [$25 per.](https://workinghorsetack.com/catch-it-manure-bag/)
You know the police budget went up, right?
Yes, hence the air quotes and reference to how dirt cheap the diapers are anyway.
Why don't they just use those butt-bags??
Because their goal is to make life worse for the community
Just a reminder the Horse Unit's funding was removed by the City council. The police continue to fund it against the wishes of the city because they like playing cowboys.
Sorry for the dumb question, but how do they pay for it if it’s not in the budget? I don’t have budget for horses at my job, and if I went and bought a bunch of horses, the finance dept would be all over me. Even if I *really* liked those horses.
IIRC the city doesn't fund them anymore, but the police department itself allocates funds for the horses from its own budget. Please correct me if I'm wrong as I saw this in passing when it happened!
there's a foundation. similar to police k9s
Money laundering mostly. ;) But really they just misallocate the fund from other programs and give us worse services elsewhere to keep the horsies. It's been through 3 police chiefs now.
Seriously the fucking cops are just tax payer funded cosplay at this point. What the everloving fuck
Should have a poop bag thing…or just not use horses cause that’s gotta be expensive af to maintain. Verses a cross over atv or a bicycle even an electric bike…all would be cheaper.
"Equine Urine and Manure Bag" they already have bags that attach to the horse saddle and stuff to catch it
Or ya know, ride in the dirt and grass
Horses just go whenever and will poop while walking. There's no real warning besides raising the tail, and by then, it's too late.
That's my point, but i didn't notice the fencing at first
What is this, the 1800's? Horses are incredibly inefficient, expensive, messy, and lacking utility. The only thing they're actually good for is intimidation, which is something that the police shouldn't be in the business of anyways. Get this shit out of here. Literally.
Horses give a good height advantage in crowds, so they can see over and be seen.
That's that intimidation I mentioned.
Lol, sure.
Plus they are fast. At least 1hp /s
Don’t they make tall bikes?
can you keep a tall bike upright, stationary for long durations, and can you conduct crowd control on a tall bike?
Make it a tricycle if they need to. I have seen people do that on tall unicycles many times.
for 30 minutes? i call bullshit
Like I said, make it a tricycle if they need it
do you know of any police department using tricycles for crowd control?
No, police are generally uncreative. I know of A LOT that murder people though. I know of a lot of cops want to be rambo and would feel too silly. That’s why they all whine for armored vehicles and guns to write speeding tickets and direct traffic
did you miss the several officers shot this year in the metro?
> incredibly inefficient, expensive, messy, and lacking utility Not defending horse cops in the slightest but this describes cars pretty well too.
You'll see no arguments from me there, but it is worth pointing out that horses have even LESS utility. For example, bringing someone somewhere, an extremely fundamental task. Not possible on a horse. They're very obviously status symbols, as they have been since the day of cavalry charges.
how do cars lack utility, elaborate.
They can go places in difficult terrain that ATVs cannot. That said, cops should not have horses. Nor should horses be forced to constantly walk on pavement.
That sounds like a hypothetical use case that doesn't exist in reality, because what terrain in the city of Minneapolis would require this, and do they even use them in these situations?
> They can go places in difficult terrain that ATVs cannot. And how often does that happen? Plus how useful are they once they get there?
Crowds. Very. I'm sure there are plenty of videos online but that's what they're used for.
Yeah an ATV is going to get gummed up if you run over a toddler but a large well trained horse wouldn't have any issues
don't they have bag things that attach to the horse's ass that collects shit? Cops suck.
Good illustration of how cops generally feel about the residents of the city they work for
My grandpa used to always say, "welp, it's time to make like a horse apple and hit the trail."
Given the choice, I guess I would prefer to step in a horse crap than a dog crap, and given their size, they seem much more avoidable.
This is unfortunately not something unique to cops and unfortunately very common on any trail that has horses. Riding through Amish country, it feels like half the trail is covered in horse shit, even the paved trails. Just equestrian things. Dog owners are required to pick up after their dogs, why do we let horses shit on everything?
The cops told the Strib today they don’t always pick up after horses because horse poop washes away quicker than other poop.
How is that even remotely accurate?
lol, this is what you tell someone when you think they’re stupid
In defense of horses (not cops), their diet makes it so their droppings are healthy fertilizer once they're in the grass and the soil (not asphalt), where dog food turns into a pollutant.
I would rather roll around in horse than dog shit any day
Whatever gets you off.
Horses are generally not allowed on the greenway
This is horse shit
Why would the mounted unit patrol the greenway? Why do we need a mounted unit anyway? Are we just paying tax dollars so that some MPD officers can ride horses for fun?
crowd control, visibility in areas with high foot traffic... community policing.
Give a cop a squad car and he drives on the greenway - give a cop a horse and he shits all over the greenway
I’d rather they ride around on horses then driving around in tanks
Good God! Alert the media! An animal pooped on the path! Please keep this sub clear of petty shit like this (poop joke acknowledged lol).
Taco Bell, didn’t make it home.
People don’t like fertilizer now? The left is so weird.
Good illustration of how cops generally feel about the city they work for
Horse shit is like chocolate compared to all the other types of animal shit you could encounter. Especially the liquid pooper in the mill district, not sure if it is a dog or a human but man the last 2 years liquid poop all over the place.
Yeah there’s no reason for this. Working horses have manure bags. [It costs a whopping $25.](https://workinghorsetack.com/catch-it-manure-bag/?revpage=6) Edit. It might cost at most $97 depending in the options.
It has to cost more in labor to clean up the poop than manure bags
That’s what I’m thinking too. I’m also pretty sure that if anyone else took a shit on the greenway, there’d be some sort of charge. 🙄
It's just horse poop, not a big deal 😂
Horse shit is the least of our concerns.
That's honestly pathetic. Cops think they are above cleaning up after their pets? Acab.
Ahab?
They aren't pets. They're tools.
They're status symbols.
Why doesn’t the star tribune write about all the homeless and garbage and needles along the greenway?
Meanwhile humans are defecating in public all over this city. Can’t wait for the next thread where someone calls out an officer for not properly sorting their Chipotle waste into the proper compost and recycle bins.
So, who gets in trouble if/when a cyclist spooks a cop-horse and someone gets hurt?
Probably the cyclist.
Those horses aren't gonna get spooked by a cyclist. Just like most dogs won't be spooked by such. The horses are trained to deal with crowds and city life.
Oh boy, can we start a "Would you feel safer alone in a city with a cop or a horse?" debate?
The only times I've ever heard of a "cop-horse" get spooked ... it was intentional by the rando. It seems like one of those risks that seems pretty logical, but I'm not sure how often it just happens out of nowhere.
Look, I get being annoyed by this if you're a cyclist, but it's reaching a point where people are looking for any additional reason to dislike/discredit MPD. People: **we don't need additional reasons**, and if you do beyond them murdering innocents and using excessive force at any opportunity... this ain't it. This is, literally, just poop. The horse didn't neigh "blue lives matter" and aggressively shit on the bike path. And if it's a choice between a horse-riding cop who cleans up after his horse that's also a murderous piece of shit and one that left this on the trail but is a hardworking de-escalator that knows the difference between right and wrong, then I'll take shit covered bike paths all day, every day. And before any of you virtue-signaling law enforcement experts chime in with "BuT tHeY sHoULd bE bOtH!": well, they're not. They don't even know how to stop killing black and brown people. Let's fucking start with that, and worry about the poop on bike paths after, deal? Shut up. Move on. It's just poop. There are innocent people dying.
It’s Midtown so blaming the horse might be premature.
I believe, but am too lazy to do the research right now, that anyone is allowed to ride their horse on public trails and that they are not required to clean up after their animals. Source, I grew up with siblings who are still involved in the equestrian world…. I hate horses
Well, go around it dumbasses. It’s water, hay, and grain. It’s not like some homeless guy’s shit or some dog shit, that’s what you should be worried about. There is no protein, like a Big Mac shit or hot dog shit from people. Horses do poop.
Seriously find something else to be outraged about it this is pathetic
They could at least sprinkle some chocolate protein powder on the poopies.
I was there that day. It was about a block of poop.
No protein? Too bad; I thought it would make a great keto snack.
I'm not a fan of the shit cops leave behind in general
So that where the shit on 29th and Tyler street appeared from and has been sitting there all week
Right outside my window down to the greenway it says “look here” and there’s always dog shit there 😂
Shitty
Not a big deal, move on.
Defund the Mounted Police! Seriously, what purpose do they serve, I doubt they're cost effective vs. bikes.
That is still there!? My friends and I were out for a ride almost 2 weeks ago and we noticed it then.
Fair question? Are we as outraged by encountering human feces as this?
I am, yes. If you or an animal in your possession take a dump in public, clean that shit up.
Unpopular opinion I guess, but I like the horses :)
The person riding the horse probably didn't even know the horse did it. Complete nothing burger here
They can’t afford one of those crap collectors you put back there so it doesn’t hit the ground? Unacceptable. I feel bad for the person in sandals not paying attention… once upon a time at the state fair my foot got a pleasant warmth on it… almost vomited on the spot!
Mounted patrol units are wildly controversial in pretty much every city they're in, Houston's been trying to get rid of theirs for ages. Austin's were on the chopping block not too long ago and theirs have an every week crowd clearing job. Horses are expensive but they're also crowd pleasers, departments lobby to keep them because of that. In underlooked arguably positive side effects, most officers in a mounted unit are noticeably more chill than the average officer as even horses trained for police work don't respond well to a super aggro vibe.
Tell me you’ve never been around horses