Detection Dogs Now Instrumental in Law Enforcement
20 July, 2016KHARTOUM (Sudanow.info.sd) - The police officer received a tip from his sources and his men on the ground that a well-known narcotic dealer was hiding a cache of narcotics in his home. After making the necessary checks and balances he took his men and the sniffer dog to the destination.
There the officer briefly knocked the door and forced his way inside, heading directly to one of the rooms. To his surprise he noticed that the dog was lagging behind and looking at the yard wall, muted barking coming out of its throat. Trying to lure the beast towards the rooms, the beast was adamant and went towards the wall. Here the officer noticed that a place in the wall seemed to have been broken and rebuilt. The officer ordered one of his men to force an opening in the wall and to their surprise they found the stuff they were looking for hidden in a bag in the newly built opening.
A detection dog or sniffer dog is a dog that is trained to and works at using its senses (almost always the sense of smell) to detect substances such as explosives, illegal drug, wildlife scat, currency, or blood.
Hunting dogs that search for game and search dogs that search for missing humans are generally not considered detection dogs. There is some overlap, as in the case of cadaver dogs, trained to search for human remains.
Some police dogs that are used in drug raids are trained not only to locate narcotics, but also persons who may be hiding from the police, as well as stashed currency. Some detector dogs can locate contraband electronics, such as illicit mobile phones in prisons.
Generally the dog is a bold and brave animal, and it is often called man’s best friend. In addition to their high sense of smelling, the dogs are also gifted with a good listening sense. They are also skillful in tracking foot prints. Due to these exceptional qualities, detection dogs help with surveillance prior to conferences and other gatherings. They are taken to murder and robbery scenes where they sniff around and store their knowledge for use at the right time.
The World’s most famous sniffer dogs are the German Sheppard and the Alsatian (wolf). There is also the Labrador which is specialized in the detection of explosives and the Cocker Spaniel which is used in detecting drugs.
Sudanow visited the Headquarters of the administration of the Police Dogs Unit to know the beginning of the unit and the types of police dogs in Sudan and their role in detecting crimes and criminals.
The Director of the Police Dogs Administration, Brigadier General Kamal Addin Mohamed al- Haj Gimaiha explained that the first batch of 9 police dogs was brought to Sudan from Egypt in 1967. Then later on in the 1970s five more dogs were added. Then another 5 dogs were brought from Germany. Now the unit has about 106 police dogs of good species and 26 puppies (young dogs). Outside the unit, he said, we have 7 police dogs specialized in the tracking of suspects in seven Sudanese states.
In addition, there is a number of police dogs trained to do other jobs in the different states. For example, in Central Darfur and North Darfur states, the dogs are trained to detect explosives, weapons and drugs. In the White Nile, Kassala, the Jazeera, the River Nile and the Northern States the police dogs are trained to detect crimes and identify suspects.
The dogs inside the unit have a good environment which copes with their nature, with shade trees all around. It has an auto ventilation system as well as an auto hydration system using sprinklers to keep the place cool and the air fresh.
The place has a veterinary unit as well as a carefully equipped unit food system.
“All our police dogs descend from foreign races with high skills in the field of security work. They are brought from European States, Germany and South Africa”, Brig. General Gimaiha said.
He added that they have recently turned towards Hungary due to its suitable prices and good quality sniffer dogs. A single dog costs about 2000 Euros in addition to shipping costs. They are and brought at the age of 6-9 months and started to be trained once it reaches 11 months when it is fully acclimatized to the environment of Sudan.
Training begins with what is known as socialization between the dog and the trainer, in order that the two get used to each other. This phase lasts for 25 -30 days. Then follows the specialization phase in which the dog is trained on the detection of a certain type of crime.
Brig. General Gimaiha highlighted the distinctive features of the sniffer dog which are: it has about 25 million smelling sensory cells per every square centimeter tissue in its body, while a human being has 5 million cells only. That proves its high abilities in detecting.
He added also that “in the field of drugs, the significance of the police dogs comes out clear in their abilities in knowing the place where various types of drugs are, the natural ones such as cannabis, coca tree and khat and synthetics drugs such as stimulates and hypnotics and hallucinogenic pills and semi-synthetic drugs such as heroin and cocaine.
For the explosives, the dogs detect all kinds of explosives and the most important of all is TNT. They also detect the places where weapons consignments are stashed through detecting gunpowder.
German Shepherds are used in securing official celebrations, football matches, embassies and conferences. They are also used in securing VIPs. They are very clever and obedient and once they detect something they carefully pick and give it to the trainer.
Also the unit contributes in reducing drug abuse through participating in rounds of random inspection in possible narcotic hideouts and production areas.
In the field of crimes, the police dog can direct
the course of investigation line via its abilities in tracing criminals through smells found in personal belongings or others from the crime scene and through the tracking of footprints.
Also the police dogs are used to identify an offender in a crime in an identification parade which is composed of 5 people, among them a suspect.
One of wonders made by the police dog occurred when an expatriate one day returned home from abroad late at night carrying a hand bag containing a lot of hard currency. Up in the morning he discovered that his bag was broken and all the money gone. At an identification parade, dog Misso left the men lined up in the parade and went direct to the onlookers. There he seized a young man with resolve. To the surprise of the police and the money owner, the young man happened to be the owner’s son, who immediately broke down and confessed to the theft. Here his father forgave him after he returned the money.
Prior to the identification parade the dog is made to smell material evidence or things that were used in the crime. The process of identification is repeated twice, changing place of the accused just for accuracy and justice. Brig. General Gemaiha confirms that the ability of police dog is more than just tracking.
He disclosed that a new batch of police dogs was added to the unit to detect blood on the accused (or victim) in order to verify the offender.
Here Brig Gemaiha remembers that a police dog had once helped them to decipher a crime when a human body was found in bad shape after being killed and thrown in the river. Samples of blood found on the body of the deceased helped the police to identify the killer.
Police Captain (veterinarian) Mohamed Abdul Rahman Ibrahim from the training administration said that the veterinary department consists of a clinic, a nutrition section and an operation theatre.
The administration is concerned with diagnosing and curing diseases that inflict the police dogs and it provides prevention through vaccination against viral diseases mostly rabies.
Dogs suffer very much from the hot weather... that is why the department is careful about shading and ventilation.
The nutrition department provides local meals and imported ones in addition to a lot of canned food for the dogs.
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