SAN JOSE — A plan to bring back horse-riding police officers to downtown San Jose will remain in the stable after a City Council committee quietly shelved it, amid fierce pushback from a police union about the city’s idea to staff it with overtime.

The proposal was set to be heard by Tuesday, centered around a request to accept a donation from the San Jose Police Foundation to cover the $390,000 in startup costs for buying six horses and funding accompanying equipment and officer training. But last Wednesday, the council’s Rules Committee unanimously agreed to an “indefinite deferral” of the item.

Councilmember David Cohen pitched the deferral at the committee meeting, mentioning “a lot of uncertainty in the police department budget, and at this time it’s better to wait than to add other

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