Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Pittsburgh Police Announce Plan To Bring Back Mounted Police

Megan Harris
/
90.5 WESA
Two Allegheny County police officers ride on horseback through Downtown Pittsburgh on Nov. 18, 2016.

Public safety officials in Pittsburgh have announced plans to bring back a mounted police unit to help patrol the western Pennsylvania city.

The department said Wednesday that it was in the "early phases" of re-establishing the mounted unit after a 14-year absence to patrol the entertainment districts and for numerous special events.

Several full-time officers will be part of the unit in the special deployment division and others will serve as needed.

But officials indicated that they don't know how they will pay for the initiative, saying the department is "currently looking for funding opportunities to support the unit."

In recent years, city police have called upon the Allegheny County police mounted unit, and Pittsburgh officials said they were looking at using the county's existing horse stables in South Park.

The Associated Press is one of the largest and most trusted sources of independent newsgathering, supplying a steady stream of news to its members, international subscribers and commercial customers. AP is neither privately owned nor government-funded; instead, it's a not-for-profit news cooperative owned by its American newspaper and broadcast members.