Even though the City of Bratislava has been considering scrapping its city mounted police unit, it has decided to retain it after calculating that the move would save only €86,000 a year, TASR learnt on Tuesday. Nonetheless, the City still hasn't completely dropped the idea of disbanding the unit.
The city police use horses in inaccessible terrain and in protected areas, such as the forest park in Bratislava. Even though the city police don't use horses as a coercive measure, a police officer on a horse creates respect among the public, which has direct effects on prevention and suppression, claims the city, which also uses the horses for representational purposes. The mounted police department costs the city almost €200,000 a year. This includes money for feed, veterinary treatment and staff salaries. The Bratislava city police use four horses, two of which are 22 years old, and the vet has recommended replacing them. The city police will have to buy or hire at least one horse this year, therefore, which may cost €1,000. The mounted police collected €1,380 in fines last year. The idea has also been raised of merging the mounted police with the dog-handler unit, which has 14 dogs and costs around €350,000 a year. The unit collected a mere €800 in fines last year.
