At an outdoor ceremony yesterday marked by a chilly yet invigorating breeze at White Pine Farm in Richboro, PA, the Philadelphia Police introduced the players involved in the pending reinstatement of the Philadelphia mounted police unit -- the most prominent being five, new, warm and fuzzy equine recruits:
Tiny Tim (with Officer Eddie Holmes), Santiago (with Lieutenant Dan McCann), Johnny-Boy (with Officer Jane Rush), Stephen (with Officer Mark Robinson) and Pat (unmounted) will make up a new mounted police unit for the city of Philadelphia. (Please view slideshow at left.)
The horses are Standardbreds who were adopted by the Standardbred Retirement Foundation (www.adoptahorse.org). Four of the five came from the recently disbanded Newark mounted police. The horses were officially named at the ceremony by the families of late officers Sgt. Timothy Simpson, Officer Isabel Nazario (maiden name: Santiago), Officer John Pawlowski, Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski and Sgt. Patrick McDonald, all of whom died in the line of duty.
The Philadelphia Police Foundation has been soliciting private donations to get the popular mounted patrol up and running this year. About $2 million is needed to fund the patrols until the city can afford to take over the costs, according to the Philadelphia Police Foundation website. The former mounted police patrol in Philadelphia was disbanded in 2004 due to budgetary constraints.
The Philadelphia Police has acquired a number of partners along the way to help reinstate the unit, the most recent being the Pennsylvania Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association (PTHA) -- a statewide organization representing owners and trainers at Parx Philadelphia Park Racetrack.
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