> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Not supporting SMPD is crappy - URL: https://www.smdp.com/not-supporting-smpd-is-crappy/ - Published: 2007-09-03T15:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-24T02:45:55.000Z - Author: Guest Author - Tags: Opinion, Pier, #archive-import THE OFFICERS IN THE SANTA MONICA Police Department’s equestrian unit are still pedaling T-shirts to buy feed for their horses. A few years ago, when budgets were tight, the unit was almost disbanded. A concerned public led by actress June Lockhart demanded that the city “Save the horses.” City Council agreed to partially fund the unit, which provides crowd control at major events such as the Pier Twilight Dance Series and doubles as a highly visible community relations asset for the department. Since then, arrangements have been made to stable the horses at no cost to the city in Will Rogers State Historic Park in Pacific Palisades. Some other expense is supported by the city and, based on the Council agreement, the city only pays for half the horse feed. In addition to caring for their horses and training in their free time, the officers themselves sell “SMPD Cavalry” T-shirts to pay for feed and hay for the remaining six months. With the fiscal pinch of the early 1990s over, a city with nearly a half-billion dollar annual budget can’t afford between $8,000 and $10,000 in horse feed? There’s no reason now why these sworn men and women should have to sell T-shirts and beg for public donations in their off-duty hours to partially support an equestrian unit that serves this city very well. It’s about time City Council appropriated some funding from this year’s discretionary budget to feed SMPD’s horses for the rest of this fiscal year. Hopefully, next year’s city budget will include sufficient funding to fully support this vital public safety unit. As a SMPD volunteer, I was in Culver City last Saturday morning to hand out “missing persons” flyers. The department has been looking for Alicia Medina, 52, who walked out of her Marine Street home on July 2 and never returned. Although a Santa Monica resident, Medina shopped and attended church in Culver City. SMPD Volunteer Coordinator Ana Montalvo; two other volunteers; Detectives John Henry and Dave Legerski; Medina’s family members and I handed out flyers for four hours with the hope that someone in that neighborhood might have seen her. The next morning, the SMPD hosted a non-denominational memorial service at the Santa Monica Pier for a former police volunteer. Colette Chanel was an older, single woman who recently passed away of natural causes. She’d been a long-time police volunteer and requested that the department give her a proper sendoff. The two dozen people there included friends, a family member, SMPD volunteers and employees, department officers and command staff, former SMPD Chief James T. Butts Jr. and Councilman Bob Holbrook. Kaddish was recited, flowers were thrown into the ocean and a SMPD Harbor Patrol boat ferried her ashes to sea. A department-hosted reception followed. “She was a member of our family,” was heard many times. At a time when most people think of the police as law enforcers, citation writers or community servants, that weekend the men and women of the Santa Monica Police Department demonstrated that they are an extraordinarily compassionate and caring group of people. Few other police departments would spend hundreds of hours distributing flyers and searching for a missing resident. And, what police department would arrange a remembrance for an elderly lady who was born in Paris, France; survived the holocaust; emigrated to this country and volunteered for the local police? On this Labor Day, I’m proud to be a member of the SMPD family. *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 3, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/090307.pdf?ref=smdp.com)