UP cops begin hunt for spl sleuths to sniff out danger, criminals selection of the pups exist including the firm supplying them needing to be registered with the Kennel Club of India (KCI). The health of these pups will be verified through a completed vac
PRAYAGRAJ:The Uttar Pradesh police have begun a hunt with a special recruitment drive to hand-pick ‘super sleuths’ to aid its war against drugs, terror and criminals. Besides being disciplined, dedicated, agile and smart, these would-be cops also need to have the special ability to sniff out trouble and trouble-makers.
Once selected, recruits will undergo a special, tailor-made training under experienced instructors at three specialised centres of the country located outside UP and after completion of their rigorous training, participate in a passout parade and get posted to different districts for duty.
The only criterion for selection is that aspirants should be canine only.
In a bid to put together dog squads in almost all the 75 districts of the state, the UP Police have begun efforts to acquire 78 German Shepherd, Labrador and Doberman pups, said a senior official aware with the process.
At present, only 39 out of 75 districts in UP have dog squads. Of them, only 28 are sniffer dogs. A few sensitive districts like Faizabad, Lucknow, Varanasi and Mathura do have more than one squad.
These pups, aged between six and eight months will be acquired through the office of the additional director general (logistics) of UP Police and undergo training of 6-8 months in 2019 at three specific centres: National Training Center for Dogs at Border Security Force Academy-Tekanpur, Gwalior, Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) Training Centre in Panchkula, and Dog Training Cum Breeding Centre of Seema Shastra Bal, Dera, Alwar, said UP Police additional SP (logistics) SK Shukla.
He said that the pups selected will report to the chosen training centre along with their handlers, who will remain with it life-long.
“When they report for training, each pup does so with their own kits comprising a steel box containing a choke chain, metal comb, blanket, waterproof coat, an iron chain, ground sheets or durries, aluminium feeding plate and a rubber ball to play with among other such items, which too are being procured for these 78 pups,” he added.
Stringent parameters for
The training of the dog and the handler is conjunctive in nature and no leave is allowed during the course of training. Only midterm break of 5-7 days (depending on course duration) is permitted once during the course.
At the end of the course, the dog and the handler have to qualify in the written and practical test in order to be certified as a trained dog and handler.
The training period can be extended if the performance of the dog and/or the handler is not found satisfactory at any stage during the course.