"Overheard" on the Toronto Livejournal community:
ME (On Bicycle): What kind of bike is that?
COP (On horseback, in the bike lane): WHAT?
ME: What kind of bike is that?
COP: It's a horse.
ME: Great! Get the @#$% out of the bike lane then.
We have to admire this guy's moxie and want to point you to Matt Blackett's passionate rant about mounted cops from the Spacing Wire.
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Is it my imagination, or didn't the horse cops used to have a guy follow behind them a few minutes later to scoop the poop?
a) Wot a whiny jackass.
b) The "horses are a waste of money" lunacy is spewed by people without a shred of clue how useful the horses are so they should shut the hell up until they do 10 seconds of research about it.
c) The horses make people happy (except for the obnoxious tool who thinks he owns the bike lane). They add some much needed interest to the city. They're worth a lousy 4 million bucks.
d) There's plenty of tax dollar waste. People just need to get off their asses and find it. But hey - that takes effort. And people are lazy and would rather formulate their moronic views (if they even have more than one) on city policy from bandwagon jumping on a subject they are utterly clueless about.
Horses are expensive! I did research. Remember when Lisa gets a pony? Homer had to work nights! And that wasn't even a full horse! Same goes for elephants.
I think that the "me" in that conversation was being a huge dick. At the least, he was being hugely petty. I love how he claims that him swearing at a cop was a "conversation he had." Oh no! A cop on a horse! Note that he doesn't mention where this happened (busy area where he could've gotten hurt going onto the road? empty area where the cops could've spread out more, or he could've just gone into the road to avoid them?)
Bikes are great. Bike lanes are great. Cops on horses don't have a cops on horses lane. God forbid that a bicyclist like this guy understands that horses can't just march down the middle of the road. Leaving the debate over cops on horses aside, this was all in all an incredibly rude thing to do - to a cop, no less.
I hate the sense of entitlement that no matter what mode of transportation you use - bike, feet, car - that the whole world has to stop around you. The only way our streets work is if people compromise. Cars stop and let pedestrians cross the road away from the stoplights. Pedestrians wave cars through, even if they have the right-of-way. Cars and pedestrians let TTC vehicles through.
This guy was just being an asshole, and his bragging about telling a cop off is just more proof of that.
Well put Dave.
i think bike lane should be for non pedestrian and non motorized vehicles including a horse/carriage.
bikers need to learn to share.
horsies are nice, i like horsies ... BUT what the F@#$ are the cops using them for? this ain' the bloody wild west. what's he going to do, chase down a speeder? they do not need mounted cops. period. end of story.
Don't forget that these horses are vulnerable to an overfeeding of Funions by Harland Williams.
What kind of cop can't stand up to that?
Of course, he said this while riding his bike on the fucking sidewalk. People pick up a bicycle and immediately turn into Jesus Christ. Cept they won't forgive anybody's sins but there own.
Not only do I like horses (and all animals -- it's people, no, adults I can't stand) I have also have a tendancy to be rather more polite to people with guns. It's just a quirk I have.
I love the cops on horses. Isn't Toronto one of the few cities to sitll have a mounted-brigade? Why are so many people against keeping this part of our history, our uniqueness, but then throw a "it's destroying what TO is!" fit when the typography on a building is changed?
it's not that i'm against a mounted brigade per se, it's jus that it does not seem that practical for law enforcement. especially when everyone is screaming for the city to do something more about crime ... hello, the money could be better spent....
Should you need a really practical example of "use" (tourism, nostalgia & national identity not being enough) then horses have been used in crowd control situations before. The 1999 Annual Report hails them as being in high demand and the 2005 AR says they're getting acupuncture. Best benefits package a pony has ever received.
I love mounted police too. They're probably the most popular and friendly method of patrol, and creating a visible presence in the city. On foot is less striking; patrol cars can be menacing; bicycles aren't menacing enough (although they're my second favourite).
Don't get me started on cyclists who run through intersections when pedestrians are obviously trying to make it safely to the other side of the road. But I won't go there.
Who's the cowboy here? Swearing at a cop? Who's being the jerk here?
Sorry but this article did nothing except antagonize me. There are enough people in this beautiful city who create moments that make me proud to be a Torontonian. This wasn't one of them.
The primary mission of mounted police is crowd control. No, they can't chase down a guy in a Mustang on the DVP, but then they are not typically assigned to that duty. They need to be out and about where crowds and vehicles are to acclimatise the horses to the urban environment they'll be working in.
If you want to get rid of them, fine -- but consider what sort of replacement the city will end up with. It is not as if Toronto can simply avoid having a crowd control unit. You can't wait until you have a riot or civil disturbance in order to start training specific officers in crowd control techniques.
We have plenty of people here in the Big Lemon and plenty of large-scale events with thousands of people on hand. If decommissioned, those horses and riders will simply get upgraded to something nice and friendly like an armored vehicle with a water cannon. Are you happier seeing a cop with a horse or a cop with an armored vehicle and water cannon?
I'll take the horses and riders over armored vehicles any day.