Horse patrol in Baja
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/tijuana/20050712-9...
Tijuana police officers heading for a roundup - of the bad guys
By Anna Cearley
July 12, 2005
TIJUANA ? Inside a corral, five city police officers on horseback practiced arresting people.
The officers ordered their horses to gallop toward three people posing as criminals. The horses surrounded the group, then two officers jumped to the
ground and prepared to handcuff the pretend detainees during yesterday's exercise.
"Get on the ground ? put your hands in the air!" yelled one police officer as his horse snorted and pawed at the dirt behind him.
In the next few weeks, 40 police officers will start patrolling the city on horseback for the first time in 10 years. The patrols will focus mostly on
rural areas where newcomers to the city build simple homes on the sides of perilous canyons.
"These patrols will help us patrol in areas that are hard to reach," said Catarino Valdes, the chief of the mounted police squad. But tourists will
also see the horses when the mounted police do occasional patrols in the urban zones, such as along the popular bar and restaurant strip of Avenida
Revoluci?n.
The animals are being trained to not shy from to loud noises, such as gunshots, and to maneuver through challenging terrain. The police are learning
to bond with their designated horses and to improve their horsemanship.
Miguel Angel Segura Ortiz, for example, grew up riding horses to school and to church in the southern state of Guerrero. "The horses will help us
increase the police presence in areas where criminal elements operate," he said as he removed a rope attached to his horse's bridle in preparation for
the morning exercise.
Tijuana had experimented with horse patrols 10 years ago but the program lacked support and it was dismantled after a year, Valdes said.
The idea to resuscitate the squad comes from Tijuana Mayor Jorge Hank Rhon, whose fortune is estimated at $500 million. Hank donated the horses and is
allowing the police to train and board the horses at the Agua Caliente Racetrack he operates, said Francisco Arturo Ch?vez, who helps supervise the
team.
Hank keeps his own horses and a collection of exotic animals such as Siberian tigers at the same site.
"This time we have more help through the mayor and better equipment," said Valdes, who estimated that the horses ? mostly quarter horses and
thoroughbreds ? cost on average about $15,000 each.
Yesterday, Valdes commanded the group of five officers through their morning exercises, which included having their horses trot and gallop in a
figure-eight pattern.
Valdes ordered one officer to correct his posture and yelled out advice to another officer trying to get control of his overly energetic horse.
Valdes, an experienced horseman, used to oversee a military horse squad that operated out of the state of Sinaloa. They looked for areas where people
were growing marijuana plants and heroin poppies.
The emphasis of the Tijuana squad, however, will be on seeking troublemakers, Ch?vez said. Drug investigations are typically the role of federal
agents and the military ? not of local police.
The police officers have been practicing with horses for three months, mastering the skill of arresting people while on a four-legged beast. But most
of their original horses were too jumpy and had to be replaced by gelded horses that are easier for the police to control, Ch?vez said.
The police practice with their horses Mondays through Fridays for about six hours. An additional four hours a day are spent on classroom work. Valdes
said the bond between rider and horse is crucial to the squad's success.
"The rider has to know when the horse is nervous, when he's desperate or content, and how to quiet him down," he said.
To get the horses used to gunshots, the officers set off firecrackers. Then they took the horses out to rural areas and shot their firearms nearby,
Valdes said.
At first, the horses will do regular patrols around the city, Valdes said. Eventually, police plan to have the patrols work in a team with police in
motorcycles and pickup trucks, Ch?vez said. That way, he said, there will be a way to transport detainees quickly to the nearest police station.
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