The State's Criminal Investigation Department (CID), which is presently undergoing acute shortage of canines in its Dog Squad, is soon to induct 15 more of by August. Presently, the squad is having a total strength of 20 against the sanctioned number of 58 dogs to cater the requirement of police department across the state. The State capital too is having almost half the number of sanctioned dogs with only five dogs in its kennel which have already crossed their age.
“We have already obtained the approval for the purchase of 15 dogs for the squad which is likely to be brought here by the end of next month. All these dogs are being purchased through Government of India from Army Military Cantonment in Meerut,” said a senior police official in the CID requesting anonymity.
Notably, there are only 20 dogs — 12 trekker, 7 sniffer and one narcotics — are left with the Dog Squad of the CID, which have already crossed their age and have lost their sniffing capacity posing a threat on their efficiency.
The dog squad of Ranchi is also in a pathetic condition, shrinking to less than half of its strength required here as most of the dogs have either died in the last 6-7 years and the remaining ones have become so old that they have lost their sniffing power.“We are under intense pressure due to lack of active dogs in the squad as there are only five dogs left here which are too old to perform — three sniffer (Rosy, Yaman, Darby and Baby) and two trekker dogs (Rosy and Bobby), deputed to assist investigating of the cases like theft and murder,” said a handler in Ranchi not willing to disclose his name. Bobby has become so old that he cannot even run properly, he informed .
Furthermore, they also need to perform regular duty at Governor House, CM house and at the State Secretariat. They are also deputed during the VIP movements in the State capital on regular basis, besides catering the requirements of Gumla, lohardaga, Simdega, Khunti as well as Ranchi, which plays a crucial role in probing complex cases.
Officials maintained that Ranchi itself urgently require at least double the number of its present strength of dogs for an effective police in the State capital. “If the new lot of dogs is not brought here immediately, there could be a serious threat on the lives of VIPs as most of the dogs in the squad here have already lost their capabilities,” said another handler.
Moreover, crowd management also becomes difficult with these aged dogs as people are no more afraid of them anymore, he added. Interestingly, one of the reasons behind decreasing number of dogs in the squad is that they are not allowed for mating. According to the trainers, they get diverted from their regular training exercise if comes in contact with the opposite sex. Moreover, there is also seen a steep decline in their sniffing power, if they are allowed to mate, he added.
Presently, out of a total of 20 dogs available in the dog squads across the State, there are five dogs in Ranchi, four at Hotwar, one each in Dumka and Bokaro, four in Hazaribagh, two in Palamu and three in Jamshedpur.