canine Leap for better security

The army has offered to provide 15 trained dogs to the criminal investigation department of the police, which is grappling with an acute shortfall in the canine squad.

The CID would get eight trackers, five explosive detectors and two mine detectors at a cost of Rs 21.7 lakh. The state dog squad has 16 canines; the CID looks after them.

The police headquarters has wasted no time in accepting the offer. It will purchase the dogs from the army’s kennel in Meerut. A senior officer at the police headquarters said a team led by a deputy inspector-general-rank officer would go to Meerut within a fortnight for the purpose.

Director-general of police Abhayanand constituted a purchase committee last week. The committee — comprising in-charge of the state dog squad, some handlers and a nominated veterinary doctor from Patna-based Bihar Veterinary College — has been asked to accomplish the task at the earliest.

CID deputy inspector-general Kamal Kishore said the police headquarters decided to go ahead with the proposal to purchase the trained canines from the Remount Veterinary Services headquarters of the ministry of defence in Meerut because the police were in urgent need of such dogs.

These canines would be bought in addition to 40 pups. To train them, the CID has reserved seats at the Border Security Force’s centre at Tekanpur in Madhya Pradesh and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police.

The government has already sanctioned about Rs 20 crore for purchasing 200 canines over the three financial years beginning 2013-14.

“Each dog would be purchased at an estimated cost of Rs 80,000 to Rs 85,000. The dogs to be bought from the Meerut-based kennel would be a little costlier,” a member of the purchase committee said.