Africa-Press – Uganda. Ugandans have raised concern over the appearance of several police sniffer dogs. They say the dogs are skinny, a sign that they could be starving. The complaints have also been spread across various social media platforms with appeals to the police management to intervene and save the dogs.
The Commandant of the Police Canine Unit, Dr Martin Mugume, however, said the sniffer dogs are healthy and well fed. He said the new breeds such as the English springer spaniel and malinois, which are deployed to track human scent, are naturally small in size.
“Unfortunately, the malinois doesn’t grow bigger. It just has a big chest to increase its lung capacity so it has a lot of exercise tolerance and can walk over 15 kilometres, which a German shepherd can’t do,” Dr Mugume said.
He added: “Knowing very well the workload in the rural areas and the terrain, we are now deploying malinois in places like Ibanda [District].”
Many Ugandans are familiar with German Shepherds, which are well-built and furious. Dr Mugume, however, said German shepherds don’t operate for longer hours.
“These days, criminals commit crimes and hide in distant places. At times up to 10kms away. You need a dog that can track over 10km,” Dr Mugume said.
“Twenty years ago, the German shepherd dominated the canine units of many law enforcement agencies world over. However, the breed has its shortcomings,” he said.
The Uganda Police Force is removing German shepherds from rural stations and replacing them with the new effective breeds.
There are more than 200 dogs deployed across the country.
At least a dog has been deployed in each district, which police authorities say is a drop in the ocean given the high demand of the canine services in rural areas. The canine unit has become essential in the tracking down of vandals of power and railway infrastructure. Some of the police dogs were taken to the Karamoja to deal with cattle rustlers.
In December last year, the Minister of Internal Affairs, Maj Gen (Rtd) Kahinda Otafiire, said the number of dogs in the country is still low, adding that he needs at least a dog in each sub-country.
“Since I was there, I said we need around 700 dogs. How many do you have now? 200 dogs! How can you have 200 dogs when we have 2,000 sub-counties?” Gen Otafiire said.
Gen Otafiire said more dogs should be bred because they are force multipliers in crime investigations.
“A task that would take CID (Criminal Investigations Directorate) a day, a dog will accomplish in minutes,” he said.
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