Media Contact:
Jon Barnwell, Campus Police, 919/515-5963
Mick Kulikowski, News Services, 919/515-3470

Oct. 5, 2005

Two Are Better Than One: NC State to Introduce Newest Police Horse

North Carolina State University’s Police Department will introduce its newest Mounted Patrol unit member – “Eli,” an 8-year-old bay colored Appaloosa horse donated by a family in Apex, N.C. – during Employee Appreciation Day at the McKimmon Center on Thursday, Oct. 6 from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m.

Media coverage of the horse’s introduction to the campus community is invited. Members from the police department and the College of Veterinary Medicine will be available for comment.

Eli joins “Action Jackson” in the university’s re-formed Mounted Patrol unit, which supports the uniform patrol officers and university community by addressing crime prevention through public education; acts as a visual reminder of police presence on campus and good will ambassadors to the students, faculty, staff, alumnus and visitors to NC State; and supplements the uniform patrol by helping police undeveloped areas of campus inaccessible by patrol vehicles.

The police department also acknowledges the College of Veterinary Medicine for its willingness to provide routine medical care to the animals at no cost to the police department. The partnership lowers the cost of maintaining the mounted patrol while giving veterinary students the opportunity to assist in large-animal care, police department officials said.

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