DOGS AS DETECTIVES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 4411, 30 October 1934, Page 4

DOGS AS DETECTIVES.

WfORK IN SOUTH AFRICA

D'ogs guard the rich diamond fields at Kimberley in South Africa. One of the most interesting scenes arranged for visitors is a display by these trained, animals. A native dressed in padded clothes, behaves in a suspicious manner, and then hides in long grass. The dogs surround him and grip him hy the sleeves, while others bark the alarm. Police dogs are used probably more in South Africa than anyWIICVC in the world. For 25 years they have been tracking nnu-derers and bringing thieves to justice, and extraordinary stories are told of their feats. An interesting act of some of these feats is given by a South African detective. There is a training depot near Pretoria, where about 140 dogs are always kept “on the strength.” The system is to train men and dogs together, and then to send them to police stations throughout. the country. The open spaces of the veldt are peculiarly well suited to this form of detection, although the dogs have also been successful in crowded cities. Each detective is given two dogs to train, and much depends on the personality of the trainer. The dogs live in kennels and portable cages. They are allowed out only on the leash, and from the first they are given nothing but a human scent to follow. For the first two months the dogs learn perfect obedience in camp. They swim, climb ladders, recover hidden objects, and jump ladders —all at the word of command, a sign, or a whistle. Then they are taken out tracking on the veldt. A native makes a trail for them, the dogs are given the scent, and before very long the native is traced to his hiding place. At first the dogs are put on a fresh trail. Before they leave camp they can pick up a- trail 72 hours old. The dogs learn how to tackle a criminal and bring him to the ground without using their teeth. This is important, for a person who has left a scent often proves to bo a respectable citizen. It is essential, too, that a police dog should learn not to touch food or drink offered by a stranger. A trained, dog is worth £BO or even more, and the risk of poisoning, is great. Needless to say, the training is achieved by kindness, with rewards for work well done. The dogs are fed on meat, rice, mcaliemeal, vegetables and a special cake made at the depot. Dobermann-Pinschers are probably the most successful type of dog adopted by the South African police. They are excitable and difficult to train, but on the trail they are magnificent. An Airedalebloodliound cross has given good results, top, and there arc many Airedales in the service. Many dogs, even those of suitable breeds, have to" be rejected. Alsatians, Rottweilers and German shepherd j dogs have all been tested, but they j are no longer trained. The Dobermann breed has been proved the fastest and most satisfactory of all dogs. A footprint is sufficient to give'a trained dog the scent, and this faint trail will often be followed unerringly through a city or a crowd. The dog is baffled only when the person pursued takes a motor-car or a tram or crosses a river in a direction which cannot be guessed. The mere fact that a person is indicated by a police dog does not, of course, prove the crime, for the dog selects the strongest human scent on any given article and follows it. The use of dogs, however, does enable the police to trace a possible connection between a suspect and a crime. Dogs are particularly valuable when the only clues would take a long time to investigate, for the dogs save time. In South Africa native criminals

are often so surprised to find the police at their heels with dogs that they save troiiblte by confessing. A suspect, too, caught in this way unwittingly provide the missing link in the. evidence. There was one ease in which a small piece of jagged cloth was found on a barbed wire fence. The dogs got the man, and the torn cloth exactly fitted a hole in his coat. iOne night a native was murdered. At the scene of the crime a bare footprint was found, from which, on the following evening, a police dog was given the scent. Trailing for a distance of three miles, the dog lost the scent, and it was decided to postpone the \york owing to darkness and rough country. The following morning, at 6 o’clock, the same dog was again given the scent from the footprint at the scene of the crime. He trailed on to another farm, and, entering a room there, pointed out a blanfket. The blanket was identified as the property of a native who had left at about midnight for a farm. He was traced to the farm, where he was arrested. He admitted having committed the murder and was sentenced to death. The dog in this case trailed a distance of four and a-half miles. A railway pumping station was once broken into and a few grain bags and a rasp were stolen. The culprit then broke into a shop near the railway station and stole goods worth about £l4. A pair of boots and two sets of footprints were pointed out to the dogkeeper. and from these the dogs were given the

scent. . The first trail was followed for eight miles, but on investigation it proved to be unconnected with the crime. The second trail led on for three miles, and as it was then ascertained that the culprit was wearing stolen hoots the dog was

called off. The dog' was taken back to the scene of the crime, and again given the scent. [Following the railway line, the log trailed from the railway station to a siding, where it gave up. Inquiries were made, and it was found that a strange native had boarded the train at the siding. Continuing the investigation, the log keener learned that the culprit had left the train at a station and gone by lorry for a distance of 12 miles. * He was traced and located with the stolen goods in his possession. In this case the dog trailed a distance of 13 miles. The record in South Africa is 50 miles. A footprint in the first place and a finger-print when the dogs have found their man—these are often the only clues the South African police need to plate a murderer in the dock.