Durban - Durban’s metro police dog unit has been operating without a single properly trained and certified policing dog for over three months now and there are no plans for the canines to join the unit any time soon.
The Sunday Tribune can reveal that the K9 unit, which has over 30 members, has no dogs. Several sources within the unit confirmed that the last dog was retired in December.
It has also emerged that the lack of cooperation between the metro police and the South African Police Service (SAPS), the only body authorised to train dogs, was among the reasons the metro police had no dogs – rendering metro police officers unable to deal with crime that requires canines.
Police dogs in the K9 unit are used to provide proactive and reactive services, and deployed for narcotics and explosives detection, and tracking and apprehending dangerous suspects. The few dogs that were being kept in the kennels in Montclair, south of Durban, were either too old and retired or were yet to be trained. Police generally work with German shepherd, Rottweiler and Belgian Malinois breeds which they receive through donations or procure from breeders.
A source with knowledge of the problem said that the issue had been going on for many years. “Sometimes you wonder if they (the City) are planning to shut the dog unit. There is nothing right about the unit. There were plans to procure dogs but we do not know what happened. Some dogs have been received through donations, but they have not been trained,” the source said.
A member from the dog unit, who cannot be named for fear of reprisal, said the new dogs might only arrive in December at the earliest, or next year, because of the lengthy processes which had not yet started. He said members were getting older and training them as handlers would be a waste of resources. “Those who are here are getting older and would require refresher courses. Retraining with any newly identified dogs takes time (it’s the dogs that take the time to teach).
The SAPS apparently doesn’t train handlers over the age of 35, although the metro police said they would negotiate an age of up to 40. All dogs presently in the kennels are untrained and some even too old to train any longer.
“Their fate is unknown,” he said. Creating further confusion was the procurement of metro police cars fitted with cages that are never used to transport dogs. The sources said corruption had halted the process of obtaining new dogs.
“The Volkswagen Golf GTI vehicles that were purchased two or three years ago were fitted with dog cages, yet no dog has ever entered them as there are no trained dogs to go into them. “Metro dropped the ball on this once again. It has its roots in a low-level employee who was involved in corrupt activities a few years ago subsequent to which the entire purchase, donation and training programme drew to a complete stop.
“Dogs are critical and essential in the fight against increasing crime that includes drugs and firearms, and search and rescue operations that often take members into rural areas and virgin bushes,” he said. In 2018, the metro police pleaded with community members to donate dogs of a required breed to increase the capacity of the K9 units. At the time, they said the donations would be examined by the police veterinary services, inoculated and tagged with a microchip.
They would then be socialised and assessed to determine their suitability for K9 training. It was not clear how many dogs were received. Councillor Andre Beetge, an executive committee member of the DA in the eThekwini Municipality, confirmed that the issue had been brought before the committee.
He said the metro police had not submitted a report about the state of the dog unit for a long period. “We are aware that the dog unit is dysfunctional. Residents are made to believe that the dog unit does not exist. We were told that metro was to sign a memorandum of understanding with the SAPS for the training of dogs and members, but it has never happened.
“They (the metro police) requested a bigger space for dogs and training and they secured land in the Bluff but there is not a single dog there,” said Beetge. Colonel Boysie Zungu, metro police spokesperson, confirmed they did not have any active patrol dogs. He said training of dogs and their handlers had been an issue that emanated when SAPS decided to have all the metro’s pay for training, which clashed with procurement procedures.
“Metro police is presently entering into a MoU (memorandum of understanding) with the SAPS in respect of all training and no training can take place until the process is complete,” he said. Zungu admitted that all vehicles purchased for the dog unit were fitted with cages although there were no dogs. He said training was conducted at the time and cars were used by the members to enforce laws.
SUNDAY TRIBUNE