AHMEDABAD: Gujarat police aims to get the famed Israeli K-9 (K-9 is homophone for canine squad) teeth for effective but non-lethal mob control. Highly placed sources in the home department told TOI that a delegation of senior officials will be accompanying CM Vijay Rupani on his maiden foreign tour to Israel beginning Monday.
“Israel’s K-9 squads are world renowned for their effective mob fury control and sleuthing in sensitive situations. The home officials will undertake in-depth study of K-9 squads to understand how these squads can be inducted in the state,” the home department official said.
Senior cops said that in the past years, protests, both political and social in nature, have kept cops on their toes. In many cases, cops found themselves at the receiving end when they had to resort to firing at the mobs.
“The K-9 squad can be a good alternative to police opening fire to control mobs. These dogs could be specifically trained in chasing mobsters down and holding them down till police apprehends them,” the official added.
Sources said that Gujarat police is also mulling to induct K-9 squads into “Chetak Commando” units for carrying out anti-terror operations.
K-9 squad mainly constitutes breeds like Belgian Malinois, German Shepherds and Doberman among others. “We are planning to induct Belgian Malinois breed into Chetak Commando units of Gujarat police. Units of
National Security Guard (NSG) already have such K-9 squads,” added a senior police official.
Officials said that Gujarat cops will also look at inducting ‘shock batons’ used by Israeli police for law and order enforcement. Minister of state for home Pradipsinh Jadeja, however, said: “I cannot comment on the issue at this juncture.”
Meanwhile, there was a word of caution. Ex-DGP of Gujarat Chitaranjan Singh said: “Dogs can easily get out of control and cause serious injuries. The handlers too have to be imparted proper training to ensure the dogs especially aggressive breeds like Belgian Malinois do not override the command.”
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