Once-elite dog squad is falling by the wayside

The Dog Squad which used to, on an average, attend to three calls every 5 days now barely gets one call in a week. In 2018, the squad attended to 232 calls from various police stations across the city which plummeted to 50 in 2022 (as of November 14 this year)

Mumbai: A palpable sheen of age hangs over the 40-year-old building that stands partially hidden behind the Police Headquarters at Crawford Market. The walls are noticeably old, the furniture is starting to creak and stray cobwebs are visible in corners. At the entrance, a German shepherd prowls restlessly. As she starts growling, a policeman in plain clothes quickly comes up to her and starts speaking to her in a low voice, holding her leash and leading her out of the building.

Five well-groomed and trained dogs strike a pose with their handlers attached to the crime detection dogs unit of the Mumbai police at the police headquarter. (HT Photo)

Inside, on the floor, four other dogs are lying on the floor. They lie on their stomach with their chins resting on the floor in a dignified manner while their ears, ever so slightly cocked, remain attuned and alert to every sound.

But as well-groomed and well trained and alert they are, the fact is that all five of Mumbai police’s Dog Squad are a bored bunch these days.

The Dog Squad which used to, on an average, attend to three calls every 5 days now barely gets one call in a week. In 2018, the squad attended to 232 calls from various police stations across the city which plummeted to 50 in 2022 (as of November 14 this year).

Honey, a handsome German Shepherd, trained in narcotic-detection, received just 7 calls in 2022 even as anti-narcotics agencies like Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Customs, ANC, DRI have made huge and multiple seizures this year.

A police officer from the Mumbai Dog Squad who does not want to be quoted says reliance on technology like CCTVs, Call Detail Records (CDR) and other tracking methods, has drastically reduced the police’s dependency on canines for detection.

“At police stations officers prefer scanning CCTV footage to track suspects’ movement because it takes less time than calling the sniffer dogs all the way from south Mumbai to the crime scene. Often, the dog squad doesn’t get called because different police stations are competing with one another for credit whereas the Dog Squad falls under the purview of the Mumbai Crime Branch,’ he explains.

However, one of the police dog handlers says that while CCTV cameras are invaluable in detecting street crimes, dogs are still the last resort while cracking a tricky crime that has happened indoors, away from the prying eyes of the CCTV.

“Where there is no eye witness to the crime, sniffer dogs help identify the accused during the identification parade.

The handler recalled a murder case where forty-year-old woman was bludgeoned to death at her home in Aarey Colony, Goregaon (East) on January 14 last year. The Aarey Colony police called in the dog squad, and Leo, a four-year-old Doberman, was pressed into service. With the help of a pair of trousers found in the house, Leo led his handler, constable Bhau Shinde, to the rear exit of the house. This was crucial on two counts – it gave the police the killer’s escape route and also indicated that the killer knew about the rear exit and was thus someone who was probably known to the victim.

The police went on to pick up a 25-year old man who was the victim’s neighbour. During the identification parade, Leo, the Doberman, correctly identified the culprit. The man confessed to the murder saying he had been in a romantic relationship the victim who had begun pressuring him for marriage which he was unable to offer.

Similarly, in December 2021, police dog Jesse helped crack an armed bank robbery and murder in Dahisar. Two masked men; Dharmendra Yadav, 21, and his cousin Vikas Yadav, 19, had robbed the State Bank of India’s Dahisar (West) branch on December 30, 2021. With Jesse’s precise foray, the cops landed at Dharmendra’s house and arrested him.

The Mumbai police Dog Squad has a sanctioned strength of 37 canines but at present, it has only 27. 11 dogs are posted with the Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad (BDDS) and VIP security units, each, while just five are with the crime detection unit. The five canines, Leo, Jesse, Maya, Whiskey and Honey are trained to detect human bodies, jewelry, cash, weapons, drugs, trackway of suspects, tracing evidence, locating missing persons, etc. Dogs in the BDDS squad or VIP security squad are specifically trained to detect explosives, wires-circuits, inflammable substances, firearms, weapons, chemicals, etc.

Former Mumbai police commissioner and ex-DGP, Maharashtra, D Sivanadhan explains why the reliance on dogs for case detection has reduced drastically. “In a megapolis like Mumbai the police dogs of the tracking variety have very limited use. Leave a housing society and take a cab or board an electric train or a flight and the trail’s cold. More so now with the rise in cyber-crimes where the criminal doesn’t touch the crime scene at all.”

However, Mumbai police commissioner, Vivek Phansalkar, says the Dog Squad is a key resource of the Mumbai police. “They complement and corroborate the technological efforts taken by the police. They (the canines) are as much part of the force as their handlers are. We are putting in serious efforts to make the living and working conditions of the canines better and we also plan to strengthen our dogs squad unit to make it one of the best dog squads in the country.”