A day in police dogs’ den

Dogs are increasingly becoming an important security feature even for globally acclaimed detective agencies, including the US Federal Bureau of Investigations.

In Malawi, they are usually spotted in the company of private security guards—leaving onlookers wondering about the whereabouts of the scary sniffers the Malawi Police Service (MPS) once possessed.

Old-timers remember MPS introducing a dog unit in Zomba about 50 years ago.

At MPS headquarters in Area 30, Lilongwe, the backyard of Superintendent Christopher Nalima’s office presents rows of kennels separated by a fenced training ground. The housing is reinforced with iron bars taller than a human being to keep under control the ferocious canines, including German Shepherds, Labrador and Border Collie.

“Welcome to the Malawi Police Dog Section,” says unit in-charge Nalima.

He says the country introduced the dog section in 1966 to assist with investigations. Apart from patrollers, there are dogs responsible for detecting narcotics and explosives.

The specialised dogs were bought from Zimbabwe, South Africa and United Kingdom at about K100 000 a puppy. They have since multiplied, enabling Area 30 to breed its own.

“These animals are trained to fight against crime, protecting life and property. A single German Shepherd can handle 20 people,” explains Nalima.

According to the officer, the training of anti-narcotic dogs starts with playing with a towel. Later, they wrap illegal drugs, such as chamba (hemp), in a cloth to introduce the dogs to smells of the substances. The handlers then hide the fabric and the drugs in various places for the dog to sniff out.

So is the training of anti-explosives dogs, he says.

To him, the dogs do not sniff out the illegal substances to eat them, but to find their favourite towel.

Some may have watched the sniffers at work during public displays police officers mount on Independence Day.

The dogs work for MPS for about seven to 12 years. They often work behind the scenes, hence their sporadic appearances.

Their job includes sniffing bags on conveyor belts, border posts and roadblocks. Sometimes, the anti-explosives dogs help clear venues and earmarked for Very, Very Important Persons (VVIPs).

MPS plans to strengthen the enforcement of law and order in the country by training private security personnel in dog handling.

However, Nalima says the unit requires dogs that can help rescue lives, detect valuables and follow clues in cases of arson as well as fire accidents usually experienced in marketplaces and bakeries.

The police also want dogs that can spot bodies when people drown or hikers go missing as Dutchwoman Linda Pronk who disappeared atop Mulanje Mountain on September 12 2003. During the hunt for Pronk, it took sniffers from Netherlands to do a job a well-stocked police dog unit would have done.

Also lacking are dogs with special abilities to trace the evidence of money laundering practices.

Despite the vacancies, Nalima has success stories to tell.

Among other things, the dogs sniffed out Bibles containing Indian hemp hidden in a parcel addressed to a pastor in the US as workers at Lilongwe Post Office looked on.  Another scene, he says, captured a robber armed with an AK 47.

Other notable incidents include a face-off at Mponela in Dowa where they uncovered explosives at an Autoteller machine (ATM) and helped arrest the culprits.

In terms of crowd control, he rates the dogs better than guns because they minimise the casualty rate of the rioters as well as law enforcers.

When asked about major challenges, he said: “We fail to respond effectively because we don’t have vehicles in Mzuzu, Blantyre and Zomba.”

Last year, Constable Beatrice Bushili became one of the first female officers to join the section.

She affirms that dogs would help beef up security in the country, having witnessed robber, who hid their loot under a bridge near Kamuzu Central Hospital in Lilongwe, emerging from their hideout soon after seeing a police dog.

“The dogs sniffed and recovered the stolen items,” recounted Bushili.

She believes that suspects can resist an arrest or snatch police guns, but they cannot disobey or nick a dog.