Orange County Sheriff adds mounted patrols to Disney Springs

Watch your step!

And "Please, watch your kids". Them horsies are workin' and this ain't a petting zoo.

In today's day and age, I'm surprised that mounted patrols still exist.

While I'm sure there is proven law enforcement theory that putting a cop on a giant horse works, I would think that bicycle or segway patrols would allow greater flexibility and movement in crowds.

But I'm not a law enforcement expert and I'm sure that the OC Sheriff's Department knows what they are doing.

From what I have heard, an advantage is horse mounted police have better view of crowds. There is also power and intimidation that comes with the size and strength of horses. Officers are less vulnerable up on a horse. Horses are something of an ultimate all terrain transportation. You can move quickly through crowds (people will get out of the way of a 2000 pound animal). And I suspect the officers involved like horses.

Horses provide height and accessibility. The officers have an overview of the immediate area and the horses can more easily go places cars cannot -- and as GoBucks notes, most people have enough common sense to get out of the way of a horse.

We have a mounted police unit in Cleveland. It's fun to see the horses at public events and when they are just observing, the horses seem to be a hit with the kids who come up to check out the horse. A think a mounted unit has both a practical use and is also good PR for the police dept.

So, just to clarify - an officer, mounted on a horse is *not* security theater... But passing through a metal detector and having someone look in my bags is?

Right. Got it.

I'm not aware that anyone is arguing that other than you.

Who is arguing?

I just find it interesting that the same crowd that complains about one thing is amazed and, seeming ok with the other.

One thing is a professional police officer on patrol doing what cops do. He just happens to be on a horse rather than in a car or on foot. They don't bother you unless they have a legal reason to detain.

The other is security theater that has been well documented here on what it is..

Two entirely different things.

I would argue that a horse is more "theatrical" than a wand or a bag check.

The cop on the horse isn't waving a wand in my personal space.

Yet...

And you have every right to not have that wand waved in your personal space. Stay away from private properties that have that type of security.

Not clear on how you're equating an officer on a horse ("Oh, look, there's a police officer on a horse over there") with security theater ("Oh, look, there's a minimum wage employee in a security costume demanding that I allow them to be within inches of my body with a scanner that may or may not be functional")...

Not sure how you done get what he's saying. They're both people put in a position of authority on private property to give the appearance that things are safer than they are.

And what does how much someone make have to do with anything? Those paid security personnel aren't demanding you do anything. You're a customer demanding to be let in to a park. The park is demanding you consent to their screening or GTFO.

It's so demeaning to even say that because a working person is making minimum wage doing their job that that is somehow lessens them because they're doing it for minimum wage and you dont like it. Your white people first world problems are a joke.

And wait till you're in a position where a police officer pats you down as opposed to a security wander. They're far less nice about it.

Tekwardo said:

Not sure how you done get what he's saying. They're both people put in a position of authority on private property to give the appearance that things are safer than they are.

Come on... you're being argumentative. That it's private property has nothing to do with anything. One person is a trained law enforcement officer sworn to protect the public, the other is a guy with 15 minutes of training to use equipment of dubious value.

But both are theatrical in nature.

Any security element/process/procedure which isn't 100% hidden from the public is at least in part theatrical in nature. Question is where they fall on the spectrum. To me, metal detectors at entrances fall much closer to 100% theater than horse mounted police officers.

But another aspect of the issue is impact of the theater. Metal detectors slow the admission process and involve strangers going through your belongings. Horse mounted officers involve neither.