Police dogs - the 'special soldiers' of the mobile police
(Baonghean.vn) - There are complicated cases that seem to be at a dead end, but when service dogs come to assist, everything becomes easier, especially in dangerous places. However, training good service dogs is a difficult and arduous process.
The silent victories
Among the outstanding achievements of the “police dog"The team of management and use of professional animals, under the Mobile Police Department (CSCĐ) of the Provincial Police, must mention cases related to drugs. A typical example is the arrest of Nguyen Khac Trung (born in 1970), residing in Kim Son town (Que Phong).
Specifically, in mid-September 2020, through the work of grasping the situation, Que Phong District Police identified a large-scale drug trafficking and transportation ring in the area and established a special project to combat it, accordingly, police dogs were mobilized to patrol. Through further investigation, the project quickly clarified that the ringleader was Nguyen Khac Trung, who had many previous convictions for drugs.
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Subject Nguyen Khac Trung with evidence at the investigation agency. Photo: Quynh Trang |
After nearly 1 month of investigation, the Task Force learned that on September 30, 2020, the subject would rent a car to transport a large quantity of drugs to Ha Tinh for consumption. At around 4:00 a.m. the same day, when the car with license plate 37A - 618.51 carrying Nguyen Khac Trung appeared in Tien Phong commune (Que Phong), the task force went up to check, although they turned the car upside down, they still did not discover any evidence. The subject remained calm, believing that the authorities could not find the drugs.
At this time, police dogs were mobilized and detected signs of drugs from a pair of speakers and a plastic can. At first, no one admitted that they were theirs, but later, the passengers on the bus pointed to the new passenger, Nguyen Khac Trung, and the subject admitted. After checking, 3 heroin cakes were found divided in half in the pair of speakers and 10,000 synthetic drug pills. The subject confessed that he had bought the drugs from a Laotian in the border area between Dong Van and Thong Thu communes and was on his way to Ha Tinh to sell them when he was arrested.
In addition, in dangerous places where officers cannot be used, police dogs are often used as pioneers. For example, the incident that caused a stir in Vinh City at 10:30 a.m. on October 1, 2018, Le Ngoc Son (born in 1985) used a grenade to barricade himself at house number 128, Hong Bang Street, Le Mao Ward, when the police executed an emergency detention order.
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Hundreds of police and snipers blocked Hong Bang Street to capture Le Ngoc Son. Photo: NH |
Faced with that situation, the unit sent 7 training officers and 5 service dogs to coordinate with other professional forces to approach the subject. When the subject suddenly held a grenade to rush out with the purpose of putting pressure to escape, the service dogs immediately rushed forward, forcing the subject to retreat and retreat into the house. By synchronously and drastically implementing professional measures, with the coordination and support of functional sectors and local authorities, the subject was successfully surrounded and captured; 3 grenades and some other evidence were seized, ensuring absolute safety for people and property.
"In this case, when the subject was holding 3 grenades in his hand, if it weren't for the help of the sniffer dogs, officers, soldiers, and even civilians could have been injured or killed by the subject," said an officer from the Team for Management and Use of Scanning Animals, under the Provincial Police Department's Mobile Police Department.
In addition, service dogs also participate in coordinating patrols, control, and practice many plans to disperse crowds, protect targets, protect major events, and complex court sessions...
Hard work
Data from the Animal Management and Use Team of the Provincial Police Department shows that: In 2021, mobilized by the Provincial Police Department's leadership, the Police Department coordinated with professional departments, police units and localities, the Team sent 105 training officers and 23 service dogs to patrol and maintain security and order in the area, arrested many subjects with law violations, seized 17 adult tigers; 700 synthetic drug pills; 0.39 grams of heroin; 500 grams of ketamine; 38 ecstasy pills and related evidence.
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Thorough understanding before each training session. Photo: D.C. |
Since the beginning of 2022, 133 training officers and 61 service dogs have been sent to patrol and maintain security and order in the area, arresting many subjects who violated the law. The seized evidence includes 231 grams of heroin; 10 grams of ketamine; 4 ecstasy pills (1.6 grams), 1 electronic scale, 2 motorbikes, 12 cell phones, 2 swords, 100 million VND in cash and related evidence.
To ensure the required tasks, the dogs selected for training are usually Labrador Retriever, Belgian Malinois, Rottweiler, Cocker... Basic training will last 6 months at the Ministry of Public Security's Professional Animal Training Center. Each person will be assigned a dog nearly 2 years old, at a psychologically stable age, to get acquainted and train. After passing the tests, the dogs are brought back to the unit, continuing to be trained in all conditions and environments to serve the specific work.
Each dog with different personality will be trained in different specialties, but to be selected, it must meet strict requirements such as good nervous system, appearance, especially sensitive sense of smell, vision, hearing. Specifically, the specialty of distinguishing specific substances (substances such as drugs, explosives...), the source of breath must have a balanced nervous system, assimilation, and be more gentle; the specialty of protection and tracking requires a strong nervous system, ferocity, large appearance, suppression ability...
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Overcoming obstacles - one of the important contents of the training process of service dogs. Photo: D.C. |
Major Nguyen Cong Tu - training officer said: Training service dogs is an extremely difficult and arduous process, first of all, it requires officers and soldiers to love animals, be truly passionate, love the job and have high patience, because this is a difficult, laborious job, sweat, even blood. On average, a service dog weighs from 45 - 50 kg and being attacked by a dog is not uncommon for training officers.
In particular, with service dogs, each person is only allowed to take care of and train one dog until it is discarded. Sometimes it is 5 years, 6 years, some even 9 years. Therefore, the trainer must consider each dog as a child, must take care of it himself, from feeding, bathing, and regularly petting, encouraging...
According to Major Nguyen Dang De, the unit has a separate kitchen staff to serve each meal for the dogs, ensuring that each portion and nutritional quantity have been calculated specifically and scientifically. In particular, "Whenever a dog is sick or has an epidemic, the trainer determines to eat and stay at the unit and all housework must be put on hold...", said Major De.
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Training police dogs in a crime suppression exercise. Photo: D.C. |
Indeed, each person, each force has a mission, all for the peaceful life of the people. However, for the officers and soldiers who work in the management and use of service animals with special difficulties, in addition to loving animals, they must also be "passionate about their profession", that is the necessary condition for them - the service dog trainers to overcome everything, to stick with the job they have chosen./.
