Cape Town’s Metro Police showed off their new paw patrollers
on Tuesday 24 July.
JP Smith, Mayco member for Safety and Security, among
others, introduced the 11 new K9 Metro Police canine officers at the Metro
Police K9 Unit.
These dogs replaced eight dogs who retired to their handlers’
homes a few months ago.
This brings total to 22 four-legged K9 officers in the unit.
Charl Kitching, director of the K9 unit, introduced all the
dogs to the media at a special introductory session.
The dogs include two bloodhounds, two pointer German
shepherds and seven Dutch shepherds.
The new canine officers showed off their agility and skills
of detection of narcotics and biting a suspect, to the media.
As part of their demonstration, one of the dogs does a
vehicle search [see accompanying video].
The demonstration shows how the dog positively indicates
where contraband might be hidden. The handler then tells the police where it
is.
Smith says he is particularly excited about the bloodhounds,
because when there’s another missing person’s case, these dogs would make a
difference.
Watch one of the dogs in action below:
