The two Malinois – or Belgian Shepherd Dogs – may not be using their ‘little grey cells’ like their famous compatriot, but they will be exercising more than 220 million olfactory receptors in their noses to search out explosives on the rail network!
Police dogs Koda and Dibble are the first of their breed to be used by the British Transport Police (BTP), and the only ones in Britain in this role.
They are passive explosive detection dogs who can monitor the environment around people and crowds, as well items of luggage, in order to detect a wide range of explosives.
Koda and Dibble were awarded their licences as qualified police dogs – their ‘licence to sniff’, if you like – following the successful completion of an eight-week initial training course.
Highly intelligent, enormous drive
“We chose Malinois because of their high intelligence and enormous drive and stamina,” explained Sergeant Bill Pearson from the BTP’s Explosives Search Dog (ESD) Section.
“Compared with Labradors and Spaniels, they offer us extended duration for operations, and are an important enhancement to our overall counter-terrorist capability. They operate like passive drugs dogs and are used for target hardening to make it more difficult for explosives to be transported on the rail network.”
Training took place at the BTP’s Dog Training School, as well as at a number of locations around London including Gatwick and Heathrow Airports and Liverpool Street, St Pancras International and Waterloo stations in central London.
“Malinois are naturally friendly and have a willingness to work, which makes them ideal for police work,” added Sergeant Pearson.
“We’re the only police force currently using this breed in this role. Other forces do use them for public order work, which just goes to show how versatile they really are.”
Explosives Search Dog Section of the BTP
Koda and Dibble join BTP’s Explosives Search Dog Section, which is the largest of any in the country. They have lived with their handlers, PCs Mark Reed and Steve Gibson, from 12 weeks old and are litter brothers.
Their arrival brings the total number of passive detection dogs to eight. This figure will increase to ten before the 2012 Olympic Games begin.
Passive detection dogs can work in a static position or on the move as they pass through crowds. Their effectiveness was tested in trials carried out in 2006 by the Department for Transport and the Defence Scientific and Technical Laboratory (DSTL).
The London Underground and National Railway trials also tested screening equipment such as body scanners.
For the fact fans among you, Malinois have an average lifespan of 10-12 years and are also in service with the US and Israeli secret services.
Find out more about BTP’s excellent work
The BTP is the specialist national police service for Britain’s railways dealing with with major and minor crime, disorder and incidents, and it covers the rail system in England, Wales and Scotland (including the London Underground, the Docklands Light Railway, the Glasgow Subway and the Midland Metro and Croydon Tramlink systems).
BTP’s 2,914 police officers, 322 Police Community Support Officers, 190 Special Constables and 1,316 support staff are recruited and trained just like those personnel brought in to local police forces and have the same powers.
Find out more by accessing the BTP’s website (a dedicated link can be found on the right hand panel of this page)
