Grassroots Effort Grows To Save McKinney Mounted Patrol
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MCKINNEY (CBSDFW.COM) - A grassroots effort to save McKinney's mounted patrol is growing.
Signs are popping up in front of homes and in shop windows, more than 400 people have signed a petition, and donations have surpassed $2400.
Laura Richardson organized the effort, after learning the patrol could be cut from next year's budget.
"People's reaction was complete shock," she said. "I was just flooded with e-mails and phone call. People wanted signs for their homes so I had to go back and order more, and I ordered more and more and more."
Click here to read the McKinney PD statement.
According to a statement by the department, the mounted patrol responds to an average 17 incidents a year per officer. Regular patrol units, getting around in cars, respond to an average 173 incidents a year.
Re-assigning mounted officers to regular patrol, the department believes, could help cut response time to emergencies.
CBS11 looked at the issue in a special report this May.
McKinney Police Department's average response time to priority one calls is currently about 6 and a half minutes, 30 seconds more than it was in 2011, and more than in nearby Frisco, Allen, Plano or Richardson.
"Do we write as many tickets, do we answer as many calls for service? No, but that's not our primary function," Officer Kevin Shelby told a woman who'd stopped to ask.
The patrol says it prevents crime with its presence and fosters good will toward the department.
Richardson said she's seen so much response she's now trying to organize a non-profit, hoping it could subsidize the mounted patrol unit permanently. To succeed, she estimates it would have to raise $80 thousand dollars a year.
Dallas and Fort Worth are the only other cities in North Texas CBS11 found with a full-time mounted patrol.
Public hearings for the McKinney budget will be held in September.
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