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City Hall To Consider Fate Of Boston Police Horses

A school girl pets Clancy, one of 11 horses in the Boston Police Department's mounted unit outside the State House on June 9. (Steve Brown/WBUR)
A young girl pets Clancy, one of 11 horses in the Boston Police Department's mounted unit, outside the State House on June 9. (Steve Brown/WBUR)

A hearing on the fate of the Boston Police Department's mounted unit will be held at City Hall Tuesday afternoon. The City Council's Public Safety committee wants to hear from police officials as to what the cuts will mean, and determine how difficult it would be to revive the unit in the future.

The police department has said the unit will be disbanded at the end of the month in an effort to save money. A half dozen civilian hostlers will be laid off and 10 police officers will be re-assigned. Nady Peters has been spearheading a petition effort to keep the the unit from being disbanded.

"We've received a lot of support from the city council members.  I'm hoping that they, with maybe some cost-cutting measures, will find a way to keep the unit," said Peters.

The New York Police Department is interested in five of the unit's 11 horses. Two horses will revert to their owners who loaned them to the city. The remaining four horses are expected to go to a 90-acre farm run by the Plymouth County sheriff.

This program aired on June 23, 2009. The audio for this program is not available.

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Steve Brown Senior Reporter/Anchor
Steve Brown is a veteran broadcast journalist who serves as WBUR's senior State House reporter.

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