Police dogs not used to the fullest

Police dogs not used to the fullest

JP/3/Dog/0

Police dogs not used to the fullest

JAKARTA (JP): Police said trained dogs at the City Police headquarters are not being used to their full potential due to the lack of public understanding about the "members" of the K-9 squad.

"We just train, feed and take care of the dogs but they are not being used," head of the K-9 dog patrol squad, Capt. RB Sudibyo, told The Jakarta Post here Saturday.

Indeed, he added, the dogs could be used by the police for a number of different types of criminal investigations such as fugitive locations and disaster search and rescue operations. They can also be used by the public on a free-of-charge basis for aid in personal theft investigations and for protection, during bank withdrawals for example.

"There's lots of things that we could be doing, but we found that the public and other police do not yet know the effectiveness of this unit in solving certain types of cases," said Sudibyo, who has spent 20 years as a dog trainer in the squad.

Today, the K-9 squad of the City Police Headquarters has 17 dogs, which are mostly German shepherds, along with 18 tamers and 13 tamers to-be.

Sudibyo said that his team "members" have only been used as crowd control at major events such as football games, open-air music concerts or state conferences.

"I'm absolutely sure that dogs with skills like the ones ours have are not happy with that kind of work (crowd control) because they only get to practice few things that we've taught them," he said.

So far, the squad has never been asked by either the public, nor the police, to take part in the investigation of prominent crime cases in the city, such as the latest murder of a six-year-old girl in the Ancol Dreamland area.

The team usually works in groups of three, two handlers and one dog.

"We do not collect one cent from the public for our services. What we need is people to report to us directly at City Police Headquarters or at nearby police stations no more than eight hours after the crime took place,"said Sudibyo that the scene should not be disturbed, such as by rain or by other objects.

Many personnel of the squad hope that their superiors and the public will use the dogs and their tamers more efficiently so they can help reduce the crime index in the city.

"It's not a small amount of money we spend to train and feed the dogs, therefore, we should be using their skills to the fullest," he said.

Of the 17 dogs, only six are local ones.

"The remaining 11 are all imported, mostly from Germany, with prices around Rp 10 million each," Sudibyo explained.(bsr)