Braintree: Campaigner slams mounted unit decision

12:00pm Tuesday 16th October 2012 in News

Braintree: Campaigner slams mounted unit decision Braintree: Campaigner slams mounted unit decision

A Braintree mother who collected more than 5,000 signatures in a bid to save the mounted unit has slammed a decision to axe it.

Sonia Mills, 34, of Rushmore Drive, Braintree, began a petition and set up a Facebook page, which received more than 1,200 likes, in support of the Essex Police unit after hearing it faced closure, to save £600,000.

She handed the petition to the Essex Police Authority but on Thursday the force announced that the unit was disbanded for a second time.

In 1999 Essex Police got rid of the popular horseback team but the force brought it back in 2007 with the then chief constable describing it as possibly the best thing the force had done.

Mrs Mills said: “It is a sad day for Essex Police and the community has lost a high visibility police presence that has been stripped from our streets."

See Wednesday's Times for the full story.  

Comments (4)

1:57pm Tue 16 Oct 12

xxxdave says...

oh get a grip ! who needs police horses?. what essex needs is more police on the front line to deal with crime in all forms.
oh get a grip ! who needs police horses?. what essex needs is more police on the front line to deal with crime in all forms. xxxdave

2:25pm Tue 16 Oct 12

BtreeDoorMen says...

I just don't understand how a £600k saving can be snorted at (couldnt resist)?
Just because 'a mum' gets 5000 signatures from people who've clearly no idea of public finances and not aligned this to their Council Tax increases that this isnt justified?
How would the mounted division work to reduce crime and pay it's way against this disproportionate overhead? Not least the fact that the people who used to ride these nags can now be deployed to 'beat it' which is where we really need active policing.
I just don't understand how a £600k saving can be snorted at (couldnt resist)? Just because 'a mum' gets 5000 signatures from people who've clearly no idea of public finances and not aligned this to their Council Tax increases that this isnt justified? How would the mounted division work to reduce crime and pay it's way against this disproportionate overhead? Not least the fact that the people who used to ride these nags can now be deployed to 'beat it' which is where we really need active policing. BtreeDoorMen

7:48pm Tue 16 Oct 12

JennynneJ says...

xxxdave wrote:
oh get a grip ! who needs police horses?. what essex needs is more police on the front line to deal with crime in all forms.
xxxdave..... what's the xxx stand for? git, nob, ****, dic, bum, ped?
[quote][p][bold]xxxdave[/bold] wrote: oh get a grip ! who needs police horses?. what essex needs is more police on the front line to deal with crime in all forms.[/p][/quote]xxxdave..... what's the xxx stand for? git, nob, ****, dic, bum, ped? JennynneJ

8:57am Wed 17 Oct 12

The Yellow Peril says...

I am a big equine fan but there simply is no place for the mounted police force in our area. Horses are incredibly expensive to keep and it just looks to me that the police people who ride them are just out for a nice hack - good work if you can get it. Seriously, how many crimes have they solved please?
I am a big equine fan but there simply is no place for the mounted police force in our area. Horses are incredibly expensive to keep and it just looks to me that the police people who ride them are just out for a nice hack - good work if you can get it. Seriously, how many crimes have they solved please? The Yellow Peril

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