ST. CHARLES COUNTY 鈥 A councilman here wants the police department to create a mounted patrol unit with two horses and two officers to patrol parks and ride in special events.
St. Charles County Councilman Joe Brazil, R-Defiance, says he plans to present a $60,000 budget amendment at Monday鈥檚 council meeting to create the part-time mounted division.
鈥淚n my view, the mounted patrol would be totally cool for a county of our size, and with the amount of parks we have, the different fairs and parades and stuff, to have a mounted patrol unit,鈥 Brazil said.
But the county鈥檚 top administrator and the police chief both are both saying nay to the idea, calling it 鈥渕ore of a want than a need.鈥
鈥淔or our department, our biggest complaint in the county is speeding, traffic control work with driving in subdivisions and on our main roads,鈥 said police Chief Kurt Frisz. 鈥淗orses are not going to help with that.鈥
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Frisz attempted to rein in Brazil鈥檚 enthusiasm at a County Council meeting Monday, telling members that 鈥渨e鈥檙e not getting requests for mounted patrol or park patrols like that.鈥
鈥淚f we had everything else we needed, it would be great to have this,鈥 Frisz said. 鈥淚 just don鈥檛 think this is a good use of our dollars right now.鈥
St. Charles County Executive Steve Ehlmann questioned how effective a mounted patrol unit with two officers would be in such a large county and how often the horses would be used for special events.
鈥淭his is not a law enforcement issue. This is a tourism and recreation-related issue,鈥 he said in an interview Wednesday. 鈥淭o make taxpayers pay for something that may only get used once or twice a year just doesn鈥檛 make sense to me.鈥
Brazil countered that the county has 鈥渟pent millions on a new splash pad but can鈥檛 spend $60,000 on a mounted patrol unit 鈥 that鈥檚 ridiculous.鈥
鈥淲hat I am proposing is to do this on a trial basis, just in case it wouldn鈥檛 work, but why wouldn鈥檛 it work?鈥 Brazil said in an interview Wednesday.
He said he was first approached by two officers within the St. Charles County Police Department who own horses more than a year ago about creating a mounted patrol unit. Those talks only intensified after the county purchased the National Equestrian Center.
鈥淵ou can argue if this is the best use of resources, and I am willing to debate that, but I think that this would be great marketing for our department and be a boost for community pride,鈥 Brazil said.
Brazil鈥檚 budget request includes $40,000 to purchase the horses; plus $3,000 for the farrier; $3,000 for hay and grain; and an estimated $2,000 per year for veterinarian expenses.
Brazil told the Post-Dispatch that he believes the horses should be housed at the National Equestrian Center in Lake Saint Louis, which the county purchased last year, and that the officers could help patrol the more than 4,400 acres in the county park system, in addition to participating in special events.
A fellow member of the St. Charles County Council, Dave Hammond, R-O鈥橣allon, has already vocalized his support for Brazil鈥檚 proposal, saying it is a 鈥済reat idea.鈥
Brazil will need to move quickly to get this proposal through the St. Charles County Council, according to Bob Schnur, the county鈥檚 retired director of finance who is serving on an interim basis to see this year鈥檚 budget finalized. There are only two council meetings left this year, with the draft budget slated to be approved Dec. 16.
Schnur said Brazil鈥檚 proposal will need four votes to add the mounted patrol unit to the budget but warned that Ehlmann could use his line-item veto authority to block the proposal. Brazil would need four other 鈥測es鈥 votes to override a veto.
If approved, St. Charles County would join St. Charles and 最新杏吧原创 in having officers on horseback.
The St. Charles city police鈥檚 mounted unit 鈥渋s alive and well,鈥 with two full-time officers on horses who typically patrol the Main Street and New Town areas, said spokesperson Lt. Daniel Gibbons. Much of the officers鈥 time is spent training with the horses and maintaining the department-owned stables north of the city.
The 最新杏吧原创 Police Department is looking to expand its mounted unit in Forest Park, said Mitch McCoy, department spokesperson. He said the unit currently has two officers and three horses, which is down from the 10 horses that the unit had in 1971 when it was launched.
鈥淒o we have fewer mounted patrols? Yes, but only because we have fewer officers today than what we have had in the past,鈥 McCoy said. 鈥淚f we had more officers, we would absolutely be adding more officers to the mounted patrol unit.鈥
View life in 最新杏吧原创 through the Post-Dispatch photographers' lenses. Edited by Jenna Jones.
