Border force dogs poised for hat-trick at police meet

MYSURU: Police dogs attached to the Indo-Tibetan Border Police are likely to score a hat-trick as they are close to emerging victorious at the 60th All India Police Duty meet in Mysuru on Wednesday.
ITBP canine team members – Sydney, Myson, Taj and Shibhu -- all Belgian Shepherds, outperformed their competitors from across India by scoring centum in tracking, ground search narcotics/ explosive, scent discrimination and scent identification during Wednesday’s competition at the KSRP Ground.
The team was overall champions in the police dog competition in the previous two meets held at Haryana (2015) and Chandigarh (2015).
Their handlers Dileep, Perumal, Lingaiah and Harkat Dilu said, “We’re trying our best to win the competition.” ITBP sub-inspector Harichand, who is leading the team, told TOI, “Our dogs scored centum in Wednesday’s tests. They also did well in the obedience test, refusal of food test, vehicle search and building search earlier. In the 2015 competition, we won two golds, a silver and a bronze.
A handler said scores are based on the handler’s ability rather than the performance of dogs.
Since Belgian Shepherds are better performers, the ITBP force has inducted them for border security and anti-naxal operations. They’re used to detect of odours such as explosives, narcotics, tracking suspects based on scent as well as search & rescue operations. Their energy level is high and they can withstand temperatures up to 42 degree celsius and can walk up to 40km in a day. Though Belgian Shepherds are second to Doberman in tracking, the ITBP picked them because of their endurance levels.
ITBP personnel are deployed on the border from Karakoram Pass in Ladakh to Jachep La in Arunachal Pradesh, covering 3488km of the Sino-Indian border. Their outposts are located at an altitude ranging from 9,000ft to 18,500ft in the western, middle and eastern sectors of the Border. Besides, ITBP battalions are also deployed for security duty and also for anti-Naxal operations.
Telangana, AP cops outperform
in scientific aid test
Cops from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh proved they’re strong in scientific aid tests. They grabbed all top three places in each written test and lifting and packing test on Tuesday. All top three positions were bagged by Telangana police in the Forensic Science Written Test conducted as part of Scientific Aid Investigation competition and a cop from Telengana came first in Lifting and packing tests while the rest two places were bagged by AP cops.
Written tests were conducted for Inspectors and Sub-inspectors on topics ranging from crime investigation, law and procedures and rules and judgments at the Karnataka Police Academy on Tuesday. Over 100 personnel took the tests. The top three places went to D Vishweshwar, K V M Prasad, inspector and R Sathish Kumar.
T Amrutha Reddy, an inspector from Telengana, was adjudged first during the one-hour test of lifting, testing and labelling evidence from crime scenes. BB Ravikumar, inspector, and S Ammi Naidu, both from AP, got second and third places respectively.
Karnataka cops bettered other contestants in ground search in the anti-sabotage check tests at the CAR Grounds. The first two places went to G V Venkateshappa, constable, and Santhoh J, head constable, both from Karnataka while MP’s constable Ashok Chandel came third.
Two BSF personnel Rajesh Sharma and Prakash Pradhanhave won two places – first and third respectively and second was bagged by Arvind Kumar, a constable from Himachal Pradesh.