An effort is underway to establish a mounted police unit in Worcester.
The Worcester Telegram & Gazette reports City Manager Edward Augustus Jr. is recommending that the City Council approve the establishment and $100,000 in startup funding.
Augustus says the unit would enhance local community policing tactics, including crowd management and neighborhood patrols, and address quality-of-life issues, such as loitering and vagrancy.
Police Chief Steven Sargent says the department has been working closely with the city manager. He says state police will train the officers at no cost to the city, and the city's neighborhoods will benefit greatly.
Worcester would be following the lead of police departments in several other cities that use horses, including Providence and Hartford.
A similar effort to launch a mounted unit in 2006 failed.
