Stop Putting Police Horses At Risk - Exempt Them From Crowd Control Duties
- by: Neil Withnall
- recipient: The Rt Hon. Amber Rudd MP, Secretary of State for the Home Department
Police forces in the UK regularly deploy mounted police officers to supervise demonstrations and carry out crowd control duties. The recent "Million Mask March" protest held in London on 5th November 2015 under the collective banner of the Anonymous movement resulted in the injury of six police horses, all of which were deliberately targeted by violent protestors. The ordeal these horses were subjected to is nothing short of horrific:
• Horses had improvised missiles, fireworks and firecrackers thrown at them, in one instance resulting in the horse throwing off their rider and the officer in question being seriously injured.
• One horse had a stick poked in its eye.
• Several horses sustained serious cuts as a result of being stabbed or slashed at with broken glass.
The Metropolitan Police Service Commissioner, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, is quoted as saying that he knew the protestors "intended on some kind of violent process" and that there was a strong likelihood that protestors would use fireworks to frighten the police horses, particularly given the timing of the protest. Yet still these horses were put in danger.
Irrespective of whatever training police horses receive, horses are by nature easily scared and unpredictable when placed into situations where there is a lot of noise or activity - sometimes with fatal consequences.
This petition acknowledges the valuable contribution that mounted police officers and their horses have made to helping keep the British public safe. However, in the wake of yet another incident in which police horses have been deliberately targeted, attacked and injured, it's now time for the Police service to acknowledge that it's no longer appropriate to deploy police horses in protest situations. The Police service has a duty of care to keep service animals out of harm's way, and the only way to guarantee that police horses can be kept safe is to exempt them from duty where there is any obvious likelihood that violent protest may occur.
Sources:
Six police horses injured by fireworks at Anonymous Million Mask March protest
Million Mask March: London Student Daisy Greenaway Punched And Verbally Abused For Defending Horse
Petition image courtesy of Evening Standard.
The recent "Million Mask March" protest held in London on 5th November 2015 under the collective banner of the Anonymous movement resulted in the injury of six police horses, all of which were deliberately targeted by violent protestors. The ordeal these horses were subjected to is nothing short of horrific:
• Horses had improvised missiles, fireworks and firecrackers thrown at them, in one instance resulting in the horse throwing off their rider and the officer in question being seriously injured.
• One horse had a stick poked in its eye.
• Several horses sustained serious cuts as a result of being stabbed or slashed at with broken glass.
The Metropolitan Police Service Commissioner, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, is quoted as saying that he knew the protestors "intended on some kind of violent process" and that there was a strong likelihood that protestors would use fireworks to frighten the police horses, particularly given the timing of the protest. Yet still these horses were put in danger.
Irrespective of whatever training police horses receive, horses are by nature easily scared and unpredictable when placed into situations where there is a lot of noise or activity - sometimes with fatal consequences.
This petition acknowledges the valuable contribution that mounted police officers and their horses have made to helping keep the British public safe. However, in the wake of yet another incident in which police horses have been deliberately targeted, attacked and injured, it's now time for the Police service to acknowledge that it is no longer appropriate to deploy police horses in protest situations and that it's failing in its duty of care to keep service animals out of harm's way.
We, the undersigned, respectfully ask you in your position as Secretary of State for the Home Department with ministerial oversight of the Police, to implement a forces-wide policy that will exempt police horses from public order duty where there is any obvious likelihood that violent protest may occur.
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