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De Blasio: Carriage Horses Are Totally Different From NYPD Horses
By
Jen Chung
Published Apr 22, 2014
Modified Apr 22, 2014
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By
Jen Chung
Published Apr 22, 2014
Modified Apr 22, 2014
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At a press conference about universal pre-K (the sign-up deadline is tomorrow, people!), Mayor de Blasio got hit with a question about, yes, carriage horses. But this time it was in the context of the NYPD's 10-foot cops—a.k.a the Mounted Unit.
De Blasio, who said during the campaign that he'd ban carriage within weeks of taking office, was asked by a Daily News reporter, "I wonder what you think about the NYPD horses that are also working in the streets too. Do you have any concerns about that? ... How do you feel about that?" The mayor responded, "Apples and oranges. Can I use apples and oranges with a horse analogy? It’s - you know, obviously NYPD I have immense respect for what they do to keep us safe. And the police horses have been a part of that. And that is something that’s about the public’s vital interest. So I think it’s a very different reality than something, you know, that’s about tourism."
The Daily News, which has a campaign to save carriage horses, expands on the distinction: "The NYPD maintains roughly 50 horses who work like high-stepping beat cops, patrolling the same blocks every day. But they spend more time on busy streets than their carriage-pulling cousins. The carriage drivers are ticketed if they venture with their steeds south of 59th St., except for the few moments twice a day when they commute to and from the horses’ West Side stables."
A carriage horse driver also objected to the mayor's POV, "I don’t know what his point is. The cops can send their horses all over the city without regulation, but there’s nothing to be said for a casual trip through the park?" Well, maybe carriage horse drivers should be empowered to ticket the psycho cyclists in the park:
On the one hand, police horses aren't pulling huge carriages in busy traffic (which has led to a few incidents of spooked horses). On the other hand, police horses do get to trample on protesters. A massive protest against the Iraq War in 2003 led to lawsuits over the NYPD's use of the Mounted Unit:
Jeremy Conrad, who was a law student at the time (and has since become a lawyer), was trapped in a huge crowd on Third Avenue that had been blocked from entering the protest and was not provided with any information about how to enter the protest through alternative routes. Commanding officers then sent the Mounted Unit into the crowd without warning or an opportunity to disperse, and Conrad was stepped on by a police horse and injured. After he complained about the use of the horses, he was singled out for arrest and held in a police van for many hours. He never made it to the protest.
As a result of an NYCLU lawsuit, the NYPD agreed to stop sending police horses into crowds without a warning and a chance to disperse.
Tagged
10 foot cop
carriage horses
mayor de blasio
mounted unit
nypd
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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