Assessing the Strength of the K-9 Squad

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Second Brig. Rio Dumantoro shows a dog toy to the Rottweiler Gastom at the Unit K9 Tracking Dog Training Yard of the Jakarta Police headquarters on Tuesday (15/5/2018). The object is used to train the dogs for tracking narcotics or explosives, catching criminals or finding victims of natural disasters.

No matter how indistinguishable an odor may seem to the human nose, it is enough for tracking dogs to find hazardous materials or locate victims of natural disaster buried under rubble. However, in Indonesia, tracking dogs are not yet seen as an indispensable asset in law enforcement and rescue efforts.

In early 2016, then-National Narcotics Agency (BNN) chief Comr. Gen. Budi Waseso complained that BNN investigators were overwhelmed when they had to open 194 boxes of portable electricity generators one by one in a furniture factory in Jepara, Central Java. This was part of an attempt to uncover crystal meth smuggling from China.

After opening all of the boxes one by one, the investigators had found 100 kilograms of crystal meth. At the time, Budi said the work would have been more effective had tracking dogs been involved. With tracking dogs, investigators would not need to open the boxes one by one. However, at the time, BNN did not have a K-9 unit.

BNN established its dog unit in late 2016. K-9, a homophone of canine, is commonly used as the name of police dog units. The agency imported 50 German shepherd dogs from a number of European countries for its K-9 unit, which is headquartered in Lido, West Java.

Uncovering cases

Within the National Police, the use of tracking dogs is nothing new. The National Police have uncovered many cases by relying on the dogs’ ability for sniffing out narcotics and explosives, investigating theft and murder cases as well as finding victims of natural disasters. Some 600 tracking dogs are available across Indonesia.

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A Unit K9 drug tracking dog of the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) is taking part in a drug search practice at the BNN Tracking Dog Training Center in Cigombong District, Bogor regency, Monday (21/5/2018). Tracking dogs are used to find drugs hidden in luggage.

The customs agency has also relied on tracking dogs for a long time to thwart drug-smuggling attempts at borders, airports and seaports. The agency employs 73 tracking dogs.

However, the K-9 units at the National Police, the customs agency and BNN leave much to be desired. There are only 720 dogs used by the three institutions to guard Indonesia’s 17,000 islands, up to 100,000 kilometers of coastline, 130 registered seaports and thousands of unregistered seaports.

This is despite tracking dogs’ huge potential for helping prevent drug smuggling, prevent terrorist attacks and find natural disaster victims.

Adroit at sniffing out drugs, the customs agency’s Labrador Andro is just one example of a K-9 unit dog involved in safeguarding the country. With its sharp sense of smell, the four-year-old dog sniffed out 1.6 tons of crystal meth hidden beneath piles of goods and fish on a boat bearing a Singaporean flag, KM 61870 MV Min Liang Yuyun, in waters near Batam in February.

Recently, Labrador Sam and Pointer Emma found five dead victims of a landslide in Cijeruk, West Java. The two dogs, members of the K-9 search and rescue unit of the National Police’s animal police directorate, found the five victims in only 20 minutes.

Playful

Four-year-old Rottweiler Gastom aggressively chased down the toy thrown by its trainer, Second Brig. Rio Dumantoro, at the Jakarta Police K-9 unit training ground in Petamburan. With its strong jaws, Gastom, who is trained in crowd control and general tracking, caught and bit into the ball, which was as big as the fist of a grown man. Rio then pulled the ball out of Gastom’s mouth.

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Tracking dog officers of the Jakarta Police are preparing a security sweep of the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium ahead of a match of Persija Jakarta against Home United on Tuesday (15/5/2018). Tracking dogs are used to comb the location to ensure it is clear of bombs.

“General trackers like Gastom are commonly aggressive. They are often tasked with tracking down thieves or murderers. They are also used in crowd control,” Rio said.

In order to protect places against bomb attacks – such as the series of bombings in Indonesia in early May – explosives trackers like Jelli are deployed. Jelli is a female German shepherd owned by the National Police. Jelli is much calmer than Gastom.

Jelli’s trainer, Brig. Setio W, said explosives trackers like Jelli were commonly calm and had a strong sniffing instinct. He added that explosives trackers needed to be calm, as this would make the explosives-sniffing process more effective. “When the dog is still, it means there are explosives around. The dogs must be calm, as explosive materials are sensitive to vibrations or high temperature. To divert their attention, we can throw toys in the other directions, so that they can leave the spot where they found the explosive materials,” Setio said.

Dogs require routine training to sharpen their sniffing skills. Naturally, dogs with an aggressive character who love to chase toys are preferred over lazy and spoiled dogs in a K-9 unit selection process.

The dog trainer of the National Police’s rapid response unit Sabhara, Brig. Didin Rosidin said tracker dogs were commonly playful. Toys and dummies could help hone the dogs’ ability to sniff drugs, explosive materials, thieves and natural disaster victims. In training sessions, a sample of a search target is dabbed on the toy or dummy. With their strong sniffing ability, the dogs will identify the ball or dummy by its odor.

Didin said a tracking dog could memorize more than 20 odors. A tracking dog could smell methamphetamine and its derivative products.

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A Unit K9 drug tracking dog of the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) is taking part in a drug search practice at the BNN Tracking Dog Training Center in Cigombong District, Bogor regency, Monday (21/5/2018).

“In every narcotics derivative product, tracking dogs can still smell the main ingredient, despite the substance having been mixed with various other ingredients,” DIdin explained.

Sr. Comr. Ahmad Dyanaputra, who leads the tracking and prevention subdirectorate of the National Police’s animal police directorate, said the number of tracking dogs at the National Police was inadequate. Ahead of an international finance conference in Bali in late 2018, the National Police seek to use dogs of the local Balinese breed Kintamani. “We will need lots of tracking dogs for the conference,” he said.

(BENEDIKTUS KRISNA YOGATAMA, MADINA NUSRAT)