New Home Police Mounted Unit Gets New Home Members of the police mounted unit says that a new equestrian center will make it easier for them to fight crime. The mounted unit has been patrolling the streets of downtown Jacksonville for 20 years. Officers Steve Cornellier and Tom Reinhard say that they may not move as fast as officers that ride in patrol cars, but they say that they have some major advantages. They don't hear us coming. I can see over buildings, I can see over cars.
Police say that drug dealers often use abandoned homes in their work.
Much of what the mounted officers do act as a deterrent. Thanks to the new police equestrian center that opened Friday morning, the mounted officers are now much closer to their beat. Eyewitness News' Jennifer Waugh reports that one of the main reasons that the new equestrian center is so important is because of its location in the LaVilla area. The center is just steps away from downtown, portions of the Westside and Springfield. That makes it more convenient than the former equestrian center, which is in north Jacksonville near the airport.