Delhi: Capital's poor air quality makes sniffer dogs unable to track suspects.
High pollution levels hold back canines trained to pick up smell and culprit movement from the crime scene.
Delhi: Capital's poor air quality makes sniffer dogs unable to track suspects
High pollution levels hold back canines trained to pick up smell and culprit movement from the crime scene.
Chayyanika Nigam | Posted by Amit Vasudev
Chayyanika.Nigam@mailtoday.in
New Delhi, October 9, 2017 | UPDATED 01:31 IST
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City police dogs can't smell a rat
HIGHLIGHTS
1'Tracker' dogs of Delhi Police are failing in their duties because of pollution.
2Delhi Police dog squad has 15 tracker and 45 sniffer dogs.
3The tracker cell spends Rs 40 lakh annually on the upkeep of its team.
Worsening air quality in the national Capital is making criminals breathe easy. The 'tracker' dogs of Delhi Police that are employed to pick up the trail from a crime scene are failing in their duties due to high pollution levels in the city.
Delhi Police dog squad has 15 tracker and 45 sniffer dogs. The tracker cell spends Rs 40 lakh annually on the upkeep of its team which includes their special diet and vaccination. Sources in the team told Mail Today that for the past several years, there has not been a single case where the trackers could assist an investigation team.
"When a tracker dog is taken to the crime spot, it 'collects' the scents from the scene based on the evidence left behind by the suspect. These odour samples help the police team in tracking the movements of a suspect or the victim. But pollution dilutes or messes up these samples," a top police official told Mail Today on the condition of anonymity.
The official said that taking the tracker dog to a crime spot in the national Capital merely serves to "satisfy" the complainant. "In the rarest of cases, where the trackers help the cops about the direction in which the suspect had fled, the area of their operation remains confined within 20 to 30 metre. After that, concrete roads, pollution confuse the tracker," said the official. "The trackers can be efficient only in rural areas," he said and cited studies to support his claim. "Chronic exposure to everyday ambient air pollution on the cellular structure of the nasal epithelium will affect the sniffing power of any dog. Volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides, emitted from industrial processes that undergo transformation in the atmosphere to form ozone are harmful to olfactory senses."
Toxic air It is an established fact that ozone, sulphur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide primarily affect the respiratory tracts of humans and animals. "Organic and synthetic chemicals, such as dioxins and organochlorines also affect the smelling power of a canine," the police official said, adding that the situation gets the worst when smog or festive pollution makes the breathing difficult even for humans. Animal experts believe there are other factors also responsible behind the failure of tracker dogs. "Pollution is just one impediment. The number of people surrounding a crime scene and urban concrete structure too distract the dog in smelling and differentiating," Abhina Srihan, managing trustee of Fauna Police, an animal rights group, told MailToday. "These inefficiencies can be removed by providing advanced training and better handler."
Prime role Crime experts said the role of a tracker must not be undermined due to unfriendly environment. "Even if after hundreds of failures, a tracker helps Delhi Police in solving a single case, then all the money spent on their maintenance become fruitful," said a police officials associated with the tracker squad. Rajan Bhagat, DCP (crime records office), who is also incharge of the dog squad, said he was satisfied with the role played by the dog squad and stressed that police needed to improve the strength of the canine in the force. "Police dogs are categorised into two segments - trackers and sniffers. Delhi Police have around 60 Army-trained canines (all Labradors) in their premier dog squad that includes around 15 trackers and 45 sniffers.
The work of a tracker is to assist police in tracking and solving crime incidents. It also includes gathering of evidences from the crime spots. Currently, we have 60 canines in the dog squad but Delhi Police require around 150 more dogs. After inputs from the special cell of Delhi Police about possible terror attacks in the city, a demand of 100 dogs has been raised with the authorities," Bhagat said. "Each district has one tracker dog while few districts in Delhi have two. In very gruesome cases, these trackers are taken to the crime spot," Bhagat added.
Each dog is taken care by a constable-rank handler who is responsible for the canines's training and upkeep. While most canines join the squad as a pup, police said they now prefer to take trained canines from the Army above the age of 18 months.
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