Royal Malaysian Police opened a K9-unit memorial opening this morning at their training center PULAPOL, and announced that a further 75 dogs will be added to the current roster of 97 that are currently being used as assistance by the Department of Crime Investigation (JSJ).
Central police headquarters, Bukit Aman JSJ director Wan Ahmad Najmuddin Mohd made the announcement, saying that the new batch of dogs will be trained in several areas, including crime, drugs, cadaver location, as well as explosives and firearms detection. They will help fill the gap for the current K9 dogs that will soon retire their snouts.
Wan Ahmad told reporters at the memorial honoring the dogs that have served that the new canines coming in will be imported from China and Germany, as both countries have exceptional police dog breeds. He added that detector dogs are still the most effective means of finding smuggled goods, and detecting bodies.
While man’s best friend is a companion to all, he added that the dogs will be trained exclusively by non-Muslim police officers, as some Muslims are reticent to touch canines as they believe that the animals are unclean.
The K9 memorial honors that 50 years that dogs have provided service to the police force, beginning way back in 1968. Since then, over 570 detective doggos have served and helped solve over 1,250 criminal cases.
