Desperate cops appeal to public for new dogs to join the service
WITH a critical shortage of dogs for its K9 unit, police have turned to residents and private enterprises to help donate “suitable dogs”.
Yesterday national police spokesman Brigadier Selvy Mohlala said only dogs aged between nine months and three years would be accepted as the cops hope to increase the operational capacity of the crucial unit.
A severe shortage of police dogs would prove costly for the cops in their crime-fighting endeavours as they are used for narcotic detection, explosives detection, protected species detection, biological body fluid detection, currency detection, carcass-and-hide detection.
They are also in stock theft investigations, tracking and apprehending of dangerous suspects, fire investigation, including search and rescue operations.
“The extent of generosity and assistance of the public at large will be the key factor to determine the success of this donation drive and mainly to contribute to ensure that all people in South Africa are and feel safe,” said Mohlala, adding that dogs are donated unconditionally to the police.
The police are looking for different breeds including border collies, German shepherds, cocker spaniels, labradors, Belgian shepherds, bloodhounds, rottweilers, golden retrievers, German shorthair pointers and Jack Russells.
The call for dog donations comes after the parliament’s police portfolio committee heard in January that SAPS was facing a critical shortage of dogs.
At the time, component head MajorGeneral Michael Motlhala told the committee there were 224 trained K9 handlers without dogs, and 215 old operational dogs were to be boarded.
There were also 197 members at different units who would be going through the K9 course, the committee heard.
Mohlala said “the SAPS is in a process to improve the K9 capacity of the SAPS, ensuring sufficient operational capacity for the fight against crime, including crime detection and law enforcement operations, as well as wildlife trafficking”.
East London K9 policeman Warrant Officer Kilian Steyn said the unit in the province was also experiencing a shortage of dogs, with seven trained dog handlers without dogs.
An appointment will be made to assess the dog at the donor’s residence to establish whether the dog is suitable to serve.
Should the dog tick all the boxes and is declared suitable, a contract will be signed.
Suitable dogs will be taken to the SAPS’ K9 academy in Roodeplaat in Pretoria where they will be examined by the SAPS’ veterinary services, vaccinated and tagged with a microchip.
They will then be quarantined for 21 days and thereafter be socialised and subjected to a pre-training programme and assessed by a panel of experts to determine suitability for police K9 training purposes.
Trained dogs will be deployed operationally as patrol or sniffer dogs.
“Dogs which did not meet the required training standard will be donated to the SPCA, [which] will deal with them according to their policies and regulations,” added Mohlala.
Potential donors in the Eastern Cape can contact Steyn on 074-729-1147 or on 082-343-4838. —