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8th August 2019, 09:17 AM | #81 |
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//correction// Now that I think about it I did see police horses used to great effect in beach towns. I saw a police horse at like a light trot catch up to a guy just sprinting full tilt on sand without even looking like it was really trying at VA Beach one time.
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8th August 2019, 09:22 AM | #82 |
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8th August 2019, 09:25 AM | #83 |
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You added nothing to that conversation, Barbara. |
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8th August 2019, 09:28 AM | #84 |
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I firmly believe if Segways didn't look like... completely ridiculous they would have already replaced every non-street vehicle application of "police vehicle" for ground use.
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"If everyone in the room says water is wet and I say it's dry that makes me smart because at least I'm thinking for myself!" - The Proudly Wrong. |
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8th August 2019, 09:34 AM | #85 |
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Horses are useful as mobile observation platforms in crowds sure, but this seems to be more about being a cowboy like how Roy Moore rode his horse to the polls than any practical reasons.
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8th August 2019, 09:42 AM | #86 |
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I don't disagree that horses would have their uses in policing, but doesn't this town have like 500 people in it? In this scenario it just seems like the cops want to be cowboys.
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“There are times when the mind is dealt such a blow it hides itself in insanity. While this may not seem beneficial, it is. There are times when reality is nothing but pain, and to escape that pain the mind must leave reality behind.” - Patrick Rothfuss |
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8th August 2019, 09:43 AM | #87 |
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8th August 2019, 10:57 AM | #88 |
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Indeed. Horses can get spooked and bolt even if they are trained. Police officers can get spooked and shoot especially if they are trained.
Police officers can give someone a rough ride and break their neck without any career-limiting consequences, but assuming competent and professional police officers* vehicles are inherently safer. *which for many US police departments is a big assumption |
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8th August 2019, 11:17 AM | #89 |
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And Galveston is a beach town with a pretty active bar scene. I haven't been there in decades, but they have their own mardi-gras and it is a popular tourist spot since it is the closest beach town to Houston. So, not a big city, but their cops have big city issues and big city crowds from time to time.
Like most places, it was so much cooler when we went there . . . |
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8th August 2019, 11:28 AM | #90 |
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Sufficiently advanced Woo is indistinguishable from Parody "There shall be no *poofing* in science" Paul C. Anagnostopoulos Force ***** on reasons back" Ben Franklin |
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9th August 2019, 12:07 PM | #91 |
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I'm not in any way defending how these officers behaved, policy or not. However, as some have mentioned, horses can be useful in crowds. But the main reason my city keeps a small mounted force seems to be the positive reaction to the horses themselves, which extends to the officers. People, especially children, love horses.
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9th August 2019, 01:56 PM | #92 |
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11th October 2020, 01:54 PM | #93 |
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And a year later, the man who was led by rope in this incident is suing the city of Galveston for a million dollars. From the Houston Chronicle yesterday:
Originally Posted by the Houston Chronicle
The news story is fairly short, but one interesting detail in it which I don't recall seeing before is that the officers making the arrest were apparently aware of the problem with what they were doing:
Quote:
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11th October 2020, 06:25 PM | #94 |
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11th October 2020, 06:43 PM | #95 |
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Yes, I realize the Galveston authorities admitted after there was an uproar over the incident that what the officers did was not a good way to handle the situation and that in the future they should train officers to handle such situations differently. As I recall, the method the officers used was a method which they had been taught in their training course as something to do in this kind of situation. And my impression was that they had simply done what their training said to do without thinking twice about it. The fact that the officers apparently realized at the time of the incident that this was going to be perceived as racist, but went ahead with it anyway, is new to me. (Tomorrow, when I have more free time, I'll read more carefully through all the previous comments in this thread from last year to see if I'm just remembering poorly.) |
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