Visakhapatnam: Canine cops get set to keep 'city of destiny' safer

Visakhapatnam: In a step to make the City of Destiny safer and free of anti-social activities, the police department is pulling out all stops to ensure the place is free of anti-social activities. With Visakhapatnam gearing up to become the executive capital of Andhra Pradesh, it is going to witness an increased movement of VIPs in future.

In view of this, the police are considering measures to strength the dog squad. Be it for crime investigation, detection of landmines, tracing of clues in cases of thefts, identification of drugs or tracking of explosive substances, dog squad plays a key role.

In future, trained canines are going to essay a larger role in crime detection as well as security operations. As part of improving the standards of squad, 17 dogs in the city and 10 in rural area received a vigorous training. At Kailasagiri Armed Reserve Office in Visakhapatnam, the 10 dogs meant for security operations in rural area are practicing various feats. Of them, two canines act as trackers, six canines will help in detecting explosives and two for identifying narcotics detection.

Breeds like Labrador, Belgium Melonice and Doberman Pinscher are trained for tracking, narcotics and explosive detection.

Sharing details of trained canines, Reserve Inspector B Ramakrishna Rao says, "In rural areas, Goldie, Candy, Rakhi, Robin, Rooney, Ruby, Siri, Jicky and Volga are the top performers in assisting the cops."

The police are utilising their services to crack various cases. They include providing VIP security, catching criminals, identifying drug containers and detecting narcotics. For several years now, cultivation of cannabis has been on the rise in rural areas. After the lockdown, its cultivation has gone up. They are transported to other parts of districts and states packed in disguised forms.

Since the trained dogs are highly skilled in detecting narcotics, they assist the cops in seizing the banned material such as ganja, Lysergic acid Diethylamide (LSD) and Opium across the district.

According to the handlers, there is a need to observe the performance thoroughly in terms of health, alertness and the response of dogs.

Regular medical tests are conducted to check the weight and body temperature of canines. "This apart, trainers are advised to maintain a separate file with details such as the canine's name, specialty, breed, date of birth," says A Adinarayana, a handler.

The dogs must trained at regular intervals in the detection of landmines, decode the clues to crack theft cases and detect drugs, he adds. Recently, officials from the Intelligence Security Wing inspected the dog squad at the Armed Reserve District Police Headquarters and expressed satisfaction over the performance of canines.