Cape Town: The Metro Police K9 Unit has welcomed ten (10) new four-legged recruits who are currently engaged in and were given the basic training.
The K9 Unit scores a ‘fur’fect 10, as the Metro Police Department has taken the delivery of 10 new K9 recruits this month. they took the overall number of four-legged officers to 20.
Reportedly, six four-legged officers are fully operational among the existing dogs and four are waiting for their work permits.
Moreover, the new group is going through their basic training, four will qualify as copper and narcotic detection dogs, four will conduct general patrol duties and will help in apprehending the suspects. Two others will search for missing persons or will be kept on man trailing.
Except the German Pointers, who are man trailing dogs, the dogs who were trained are between the ages of one and two, and all are Belgian Malinois’.
Considering this, Member of the Mayoral Committee for Safety and Security – Alderman JP Smith said that the K9 unit is in its 16th year of operation and is critical to the efforts to combat crime. It specifically deals with the illicit drug and firearm trade.
Smith added, the dogs are incredibly intelligent and their superior sense of smell has humbled hundreds of crafty criminals over the years. He said that he is very excited about the new arrivals and the contribution that they will no doubt make towards a safer Cape Town.
As per the sources, the four of them will train to have dual capabilities of detecting both narcotics and explosives, until now. The K9 Jackson has been the only one to have this superpower which no doubtedly will help in improving the operations of the unit.
K9 Unit scores a ‘fur’fect 10!
The Metro Police K9 Unit has welcomed 10 new four-legged recruits who are currently engaged in basic training.See: https://t.co/gqfM4afqRv#CTNews #SafetyandSecurity pic.twitter.com/lu73NrmQlG
— City of Cape Town (@CityofCT) February 22, 2025
During the training, a method called ball drive was used. The dog was taught to imprint on a particular smell-drugs, copper, firearms, ammunition, explosives and human smell (for missing person cases) and find a hidden item.
When they succeed in their task, they were rewarded with a ball or toy they like, encouraging them to work hard for more reward. When a K9 has developed good ball drive and is able to successfully sniff out whatever he or she imprinted on, they are ready for operations if their work drive is also up to scratch.
The critical training is establishing a bond between the handler and the K9 by learning how to communicate with each other, whether it is verbally or with non-verbal cues. The training was observed between three and six months, which was dependent on the imprinting and bonding phase.
Notably, the K9s are also exposed to busy and noisy areas, such as CBDs to minimise the risk of distraction in the operational environment.