The Hindu : Sniffer, tracker dogs complete training

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 30, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore

Sniffer, tracker dogs complete training

By V.S. Palaniappan

COIMBATORE, MARCH 29 . As many as 18 sniffer and tracker dogs completed their ten-month training at the City Police Kennel, and were inducted into service at a passing out parade held at the Police Recruit School Grounds here on Monday.

The Director General of Police (Training), S. Ramani, took the salute from the dogs and its handlers while reviewing the passing out parade. The 12 German Shepherds and six Labradors were trained in Coimbatore in sniffing and tracking for various police units.

At the parade, after being presented with trophies and medals, the dogs presented an impressive show. The handlers were also provided with medals and certificates for the sincerity shown in training the dogs.

The display of skills in sniffing explosives, tracking a criminal, guarding a property, jumping a fire ring drew loud applause from the audience.

The Additional Director General of Police, Letika Saran, presented a course report on the ten- month-long training module. She pointed out that the then Additional Director General of Police, A.X. Alexander, mooted a proposal for strengthening the sniffer dog squads across the State as part of the modernisation process.

It was decided to buy as many as 103 pups from the breeds like German Shepherd, Labrador and Doberman in three phases at Rs. 5.15 lakhs. The three-month-old pups were purchased from Theni, Dindigul and the Nilgiris Districts.

The pups had been trained largely in sniffing explosives and in tracking criminals and for detection of crime cases besides a reasonable exposure in narcotics, she said. At present cities and districts like Chennai City, Tiruchi, Madurai, Coimbatore and Chengelput, which have Airports, have a sniffer dog exclusively for narcotics besides the port town of Tuticorin. At present, every district police and police Commissionerates have four (two sniffer and two tracker) dogs.

The Tamil Nadu Commando School at Chennai has four dogs in the Rescue Team for saving lives during natural calamities like earthquakes. The dogs for rescue were trained at the BSF training school at Madhya Pradesh for six months, she pointed out.

The Tamil Nadu Police have also trained two dogs for the Special Task Force involved in the hunt for the elusive brigand Veerappan, the ADGP added.

The DGP (Training), S. Ramani, said that earlier there used to be one sniffer dog for three or four districts or for a Commissionerate or a Police Range Headquarters, and it used to be difficult to get the services of a sniffer. But, now there were as many as 185 sniffer and tracker dogs in the State police service.

The Inspector General of Police, West Zone, Narinder Pal Singh, DIG of Police, Coimbatore Range, Ashutosh Shukla, Commissoner of Police, Sanjay Arora, DIG of Prisons, B.M. Ezra and other senior officials took part in the passing out parade.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Tamil Nadu

News Update

Stories in this Section

Girl rescued from beggary

Sniffer, tracker dogs complete training

Summer showers give a breather

Seats vacant at Bharathiar varsity

Around The City

In Coimbatore Today