LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department dissolved its Mounted Patrol Unit, a small group that serves primarily as crowd control and community outreach.
In a media statement, the department said the Mounted Unit began on July 31, 1998 with two officers, two horses and a sergeant. Now, the unit has eight horses and is funded to pay for four full-time officers, three part-time staffers and a sergeant.
“As the LVMPD works to decommission the Mounted Patrol Unit, two officers and two part-time staffers will continue until May 1 to transfer the horses to their new homes. Several of the horses will be retired, and one will return to its original owner,” LVMPD said.
LVMPD said “tax revenues expected to fall to historic lows in Clark County” as the reason for disbanding the unit, saying department leaders took preemptive steps the “soften the blow.”
Commissioned personnel in the unit will be moved to patrol operations, LVMPD said. Last week, the department began eliminating positions of 112 part-time employees (103 which are filled).
Three of the positions included those in the mounted unit. All employees affected will be compensated for hours worked through April 17.
The list of all employees laid off include:
Part-time Service Aide– Patrol
Part-time Traffic Control Assistant–Traffic
Part-time Investigative Aide–Forensics, Human Resources, CSI
Part-time Forensic Lab Assistant–Forensics
Part-time Support Assistant- Finance, Communications, Airport, Homicide/Sex Crimes, Internal Affairs, Community Engagement
Part-time Spanish Interpreter–Support Operations
Part-time Logistics Support Assistant–Logistics
Part-time Fleet Operations Support Assistant–Fleet
Part-time Animal Care Specialist–Mounted Unit
Part-time Wrangler–Mounted Unit
Part-time Investigative Aide–SWAT
Part-time Public Records Coordinator–General Counsel
Part-time Support Assistant–Gangs/Vice
Part-time Support Assistant–Records/Fingerprint
Part-time Sewing Worker–Logistics
Part-time Polygraph Examiner–Human Resources