Saturday, October 16, 2004
Stray Horses
September saw a sudden increase in problems with "stray" horses and complaints flooded in to Councillors, the Council and the Police. We once again took up the cudgels on this issue - we’ve never stopped complaining really - and demanded another "swoop" be carried out.
The new divisional Inspector, Alex Chadd, agreed as did lead officers in the Council and in the early hours of the 8th October I watched an operation net 12 horses. Although the animals were finally captured in Trowbridge Road, they were first found in Harrisons Drive in St. Mellons.
Having spent four hours with the Police and the livestock recovery contractors hired by the Council, I watched the horses "boxed-up" at 2am on a very cold, clear night. My impression was that the operation was professional and efficient.
However, over a dozen police officers and five police vehicles were present to prevent a breach of the peace and the contract team also consisted of a dozen people and several vehicles. It seemed crazy to me to incur all this effort and expense merely to catch a dozen horses when the problem could be solved by imposing anti-social behaviour orders on their owners.
Councillor Ralph Cook
The new divisional Inspector, Alex Chadd, agreed as did lead officers in the Council and in the early hours of the 8th October I watched an operation net 12 horses. Although the animals were finally captured in Trowbridge Road, they were first found in Harrisons Drive in St. Mellons.
Having spent four hours with the Police and the livestock recovery contractors hired by the Council, I watched the horses "boxed-up" at 2am on a very cold, clear night. My impression was that the operation was professional and efficient.
However, over a dozen police officers and five police vehicles were present to prevent a breach of the peace and the contract team also consisted of a dozen people and several vehicles. It seemed crazy to me to incur all this effort and expense merely to catch a dozen horses when the problem could be solved by imposing anti-social behaviour orders on their owners.
Councillor Ralph Cook
