POLICE DOGS.

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20907, 14 July 1933, Page 19

POLICE DOGS.

INNOVATION IN SYDNEY. ALSATIAN RECRUITS TO FORCE. Iraoit OTJE OWW COBHEaPONDEKT.) SYDNEY, July 6 Two magnificent Alsatian dogs, which possess extraordinary intelligence, have been added to the New South Wales police force and are to commence duty in Sydney within a few days. They have undergone strict training over a period of twelve months, and it is claimed that they are now thoroughly efficient for the work they will be called upon to do. Their practical service will embrace every branch of criminal detection in which they can be used. As an introduction to their duties they will accompany the police on their waterfront rounds and on their city beats.

Harada and. Tess, as they have been named, are the first fully qualified police dogs in Australia, and the fact that they have passed with honours every examination that has been set for them by the officers of the Force is a tribute to their trainers. The Commissioner of Police, who gave the introduction of the dogs his blessing, said that at tests this week the dogs displayed remarkable intelligence and amazing obedience. At one word of command each dog would remain perfectly still, without displaying even the ordinary breathing movements. They would obey no other person but their trainers or the constables to whom they were allotted. They would attack nobody unless they were told to and then they would attack in such a way that the captive had no chance of escape. . Varied Abilities. In the course of a recent demonstration the dogs showed how they could scale a wall nine feet high with the greatest of ease, walk a narrow plank to house roofs, climb ladders, untie rope or twine twisted into many knots, follow scents for miles, and pick out by scent alone from a hundred articles the one belonging to a particular person. The man whom they had been commanded to watch had not a chance of moving without being gripped by the arm or toppled over by a twist of the leg. With their jaws closed on a wrist they could drag any man to the policeman with whom they were working. With the children of the policemen they are just playful dogs. The Metropolitan Superintendent said it was the intention of the department that the dogs should patrol the warehouse areas in search of thieves or intruders, and when they had secured considerable experience in that important branch of police work they would be attached to the wireless patrol cars definitely as units of the crews. While the detectives were absent from the cars the dogs would be left in charge, and any person who succeeded in touching the cars or interfering with the equipment would be welcome to the achievement. The dogs had been trained to stand still on the running board of a car proceeding at 50 miles an hour, and in the case of theft and chases in the suburbs he was sure they would be of great assistance to the police.