Sharjah: Their help in police work is invaluable as these numbers show — 6,892 police operations in 2015 and 3,000 since the beginning of this year have employed canine skills to successfully solve cases.
The Sharjah Police Canine Division (K9) with 73 dogs and 32 trainers, including female trainers, uses the remarkable canine abilities for a number of investigative purposes — dogs can swiftly locate drugs (their sense of smell is 50 times more sharp than of humans), missing persons, runaway criminals, explosives, stolen items and also search for bodies in cases of disasters.
Thousands of cases have been solved in Sharjah with the aid of police dogs, officials at the K9 wing told Gulf News.
“They are our most trusted partners in preventing and solving crime,” Major Ahmad Adel, director of the Sharjah Police Canine Division. “They assist us to solve several cases that wouldn’t have been solved by the most intelligent human. They also save us countless man hours. The division plays a great role in maintaining the safety of Sharjah’s society.”
Adel emphasised the division’s role in criminal investigations noting that the K9 division had recorded multiple achievements during the year.
He said that apart from the police and investigative work, the division also provides the public with information on how to train and take care of dogs.
The canine division also helps in ensuring maximum security and safety for the emirate. Sharjah Police use this unit to secure playgrounds, VIP conferences and meetings.
The dogs for the K9 division are imported from specialised farms in Europe. German Shepherds, Malinois, Labradors, and Golden Retrievers have proven to be the most capable dogs in terms of police duties.
“Most of the dogs at the K9 division are bred at the dog breeding branch but some of them are imported from countries known to have excellent dog breeds,” Major Adel said. “The imported dogs take three-six months training to start police missions. A trainer is also assigned to the dog [one trainer may be assigned to more than one dog with different tasks] with a three to six months’ specialised training plan.”
The K9 division, he said, was established in 1984 with a few dogs and trainers. “At that time, it had limited missions which were mainly tracking drugs, guarding and tracking the marks of persons and scents.
“Now we are looking to increase the number and expand our offices.”
Major Adel said that police are planning to set up permanent offices at borders and ports in Sharjah to bust criminals, drug smugglers and smuggling cases with the help of dogs which can sniff out suspicious baggage.
A high-level veterinary care is offered to the K9 dogs. Lieutenant Mohammad Al Naqib, veterinarian of the Security Inspection K9, told Gulf News that each dog’s records are on file and veterinarians conduct daily, weekly and monthly check-ups on each animal.
The Police K9 veterinary clinic established in 1984 is also locally breeding certain kinds of police dogs in addition to importing specific breeds.
The clinic is considered the largest of its kind in the Northern Emirates.
The dogs are fed a balanced diet and, should one get unwell, the veterinarian grants it a sick leave and exempts it from work, until it recovers.
The various K-9 training fields at Sharjah Police are fully equipped to enable the latest training techniques for dogs and their trainers.
Until November this year, the clinic received 660 dogs from Sharjah and the Northern Emirates.
In 2015, a total of 771 dogs from Sharjah and the Northern Emirates were treated at the clinic.
Numbers
6,892 police operations in 2015
3,000 since the beginning of 2016
Major cases
25 cases of riots since 1984
The biggest was in 2008. Sharjah police brought under control a riot of 3,000 workers in Al Sajja area in Sharjah.
Police brought calm to the area using K9 dogs, when workers of an electric and sewerage maintenance company carried out subversive acts at a labour accommodation.
The workers burnt most of the office documents, broke the glass facades of the first floor of the building, burnt down five cars, damaged 40 others and stoned 28 buses of the company.
2004: Flight crash
A Kish Airlines flight crashed near Sharjah International Airport, killing 43 of 46 people on board. The twin-engined Fokker 50 aircraft, crashed at the Sharjah-Ajman border in Al Ramaqiah residential areas. The flight was coming from Kish Island, and was on a ‘visa change’ run.
K9 dogs found a four-month-old baby, in a critical condition, in the wreckage and the baby was immediately moved to the hospital.
K9 help in detecting drugs
2015
Four major drug hauls at Sharjah Airport.
Eight major cases of drug smuggling through ports.
