Canine Academy to aid crime fight

Once more man has to turn to his best friends, dogs, for help, this time in the battle against crime.

The local police service is boosting the abilities of its four-footed members through the Trinidad and Tobago Canine Academy which was commissioned on Wednesday at the Defence Force Reserves Headquarters, Tucker Valley, Chaguaramas.

The dogs and their handlers are to be trained in search and rescue, arson, currency and narcotics detection and in the use of tactical skills as well.

The move to improve the use of dogs in the service follows the series of bomb explosions in Port-of-Spain and St James last year, in which several people were injured. No one has been arrested for these crimes.

National Security Minister Martin Joseph hailed the event as an incentive to restore a “much needed sense of safety and security” in the country.

“It represents a further strengthening of the police service and law enforcement,” Joseph said.

The academy will fall under the Ministry of National Security. The kennel facility was refurbished by the Government. The programme was initiated last July with assistance from Consolidated Services International (CSI), an organisation based in the United States.

The training costs amounted to US$125,000 and it covered the provision of an instructor to command the academy, an assistant instructor from the police service for tactical skills and narcotics detection and another assistant for explosives detection, as well as nine handlers.

Training also covers building and article searches, as well as crowd control.

President of CSI International Anthony Piegero, Police Commissioner Trevor Paul, Supt Mervyn Henry and Eugene Sweeny, charge d’affaires of the United States Embassy, attended the commissioning. Sweeny told Newsday that he believed the handlers will be successful in assisting to curb the current crime situation.