By Kimani Wiseman
Dogs have been deemed man’s best friend. Some people own a dog for different reasons. For example, some people might own a dog to keep away thieves from their home, some people would walk their dogs daily to keep fit and to lower their cholesterol, blood pressure and sugar. While others might own a dog to provide companionship to mitigate against loneliness. However, countries around the world have been using dogs to combat crimes.
K-9 dogs are dogs specifically trained to assist members of law enforcement. Dogs are very good at picking up scent. According to a CNN news article, the article states that dogs have 220 million olfactory receptors compared with humans 50 million, which makes canines extremely effective at differentiating and identifying odours. Olfactory receptors are small nerve endings located inside your nostrils that allows you to smell. (https://edition.cnn.com/2022/09/28/world/dogs-smell-stress-study-wellness-scn/index.html) In St. Vincent and the Grenadines, we have been experiencing an increase of criminal activities. Some of these criminal activities are linked to the illegal drug trade and also an increase of guns on the streets which are causing the homicide rates to increase and break records year after year. In recent years, persons would have gone missing and up to this day their bodies have not been found leaving their families frustrated without having to know the whereabouts of their loved ones and not having a proper funeral. In 2011, a young lady, Shanika Small a resident of the dauphine area went missing and the perpetrator or perpetrators were never caught. The murder of Glenn Jackson is still a mystery. Glenn Jackson body was found in his vehicle in close proximity from his residence in 2006. Could K-9 dogs have assisted in shedding some light on these cases for the families and friends of Shanika Small and Glenn Jackson? Terrorism is rampant across the globe and terrorists’ favourite toys are “bombs”. St. Vincent and the Grenadines is not immune to terrorism. K-9 dogs can also be used to alleviate money laundering. In 2023, an Italian police dog name Elio had thwarted a cash smuggling attempt by sniffing out over£1,075,600 (€925,000) stashed in two suitcases while on patrol at a bus station near Florence. (https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-europe-66379987)
Sometimes prisoners might escape from prison and it might take a while for the police to apprehend these prisoners. These fugitives can be a menace to society. Evidence is needed to convict criminals, without evidence, criminals would continue to walk the streets free like a bird. K-9 dogs can help to solve all these problems because of their ability to smell and detect stuff with their nose. Some police men might be overweight and not have the ability to run to capture criminals, having a K-9 dog or dogs on patrol would capture these criminals. According to a FOX news article, the article states that a home invasion suspect was tracked down a mile by a police K-9 in Illinois after allegedly breaking into a woman’s home and beating her. (https://www.foxnews.com/us/violent-home-invasion-suspect-arrested-police-k9-tracks-him-down-mile-away-punches-dog) In my opinion, with adequate training in the police force about K-9 dogs and resources being allocated, these dogs can play a vital role in alleviating some of the crimes we are witnessing and mitigating some of these “cold cases”. The two most popular K-9 dogs used are the German shepherd and blood hound.