Dogs’ evidence reliability is 84 percent in proving conviction

Play important role in finding explosives, culprits and narcotic drugs

Manish Gajbhiye

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar

The court considers the evidence collected by dogs 84 percent reliable for conviction while the other human gathered and technical evidence are just 34 percent reliable, a study suggested. Hence, the dog squad in the police department is very important to investigate cases.

Dog squad in rural police

The Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar rural police has an equipped and well-trained dog squad. The squad has two sections, including the Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad (BDDS) and culprit finding under IPC cases (murder, rape, thefts, robbery, dacoity etc). Presently, there are six dogs of Doberman, Labrador, and Belgium Shephard breeds in the squad. Each dog is trained for a specific purpose. The BDDS team has dogs Prince, Angle and Simba trained specially to find the explosives. The IPC cases dogs trained in finding and chasing the culprits are Julia, Khushi and the the newly arrived Sweety, who is only one and a half months old. Similarly, Shasha Dog is trained in finding Narcotic drugs, says squad incharge PSI Milind Kulkarni and PSI Pradeep Thube.

Training and practice

The dogs at the age of six months undergo rigorous training at the dog training centres at Pune, Jaipur and other places in the country. The handlers are also trained to handle the dogs. Each dog has two handlers, who work in two shifts. The dogs are under the observation of the handlers for 24 hours. The dogs in the squad have a fixed daily schedule. They are taken on the ground for practice of the investigation at 7.30 am. At 8.30 they are brought to the kennel for grooming and later leave for the toilet. They are given time to play in an open and covered space, where no one is allowed.

Facilities available

Each dog has a separate kennel with the facility of an exhaust fan and a cooler. They are fed with the food certified by the DGP office. Earlier, they were given meat but now only the certified food in approved quantity is given. There is a separate bathtub to give baths to the dogs. They are given only filtered water to drink. Weekly health check-up is done of the dogs at the government veterinary clinic. Timely vaccination and deworming of the dogs are done. The dogs remain in the service till they are ten years of age.

Cases solved

The dog squad is called during the occurrence of the crime. The team left for the call in a special vehicle immediately. On an average, the squad received around 100 to 150 calls annually. Three explosion detection cases were detected by the squad at the Kannad, Palshi and Pishor areas in the past two years. Along with it, the squad visits and inspects the important places in the district including the Paithan Dam, Pharola water purification centre, Ajanta, Ellora, Kachner, Railway Station, Bus Stand and other tourist places on a weekly basis. The squad also organises training camps at the schools where the students are made aware not to handle or touch unidentified things.

Dogs - Handlers

Prince - Nitin Une / Rohit Jadhav

Angle - Sunil Dandge / Udaysingh Badiya

Simba - Anant Tupe / Vikas Nagarkar

Julia - Shrikant Jog / Deepak Zinzurde

Khushi - Vilas Talekar / Naser Pathan

Shasha - Rohit Zinzurde / Ganesh Vyavhare

Sweety - Dnyaneshwar Londhe / Sachin Jadhav

Dogs' abilities than humans

Smell - 1,00,000 times more

Sight - 50 feet more

Evidence reliability - 84 percent more