DOGS AS POLICE SPIES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 234, 26 September 1908, Page 4

DOGS AS POLICE SPIES.

L , UOW CRIMINALS ARE TRACKED ; iSY CASSE DETECTIVES. Although Hull is the only place in ' England where dugs arc employed lo a: I 1 ihe police, in tracking cr.imnais, tiio ■ services of canine detectives have for 1 years past been requisitioned in France, Germany, Jjelgiuin, Austria, a"d Sew ' York. Kussia lias recently lollowed the ■ example of these countries. London alone among tn e capitals of Europe :'s the only place wnere dogs have not been enlisted m tne police service. Ihe experience of other countries, and tne suc-

cess of the experiment at Hull, has completely vindicated the utility ol "dog policemen," and although tile authorities at Scotland Yard are understood to recognise their usetuluess, the sentimental prejudices oi the public seem to be the chid uOjeetiou Lo their introduction in tne .Metropolis, liiese prejudices may be suriiiotinted in time, anu some uay, sooner or later, London may be equipped with " canine constabulary.'' The idea of employing four-fooled watchers at the Hull docks was borrowed from Ghent, the Belgian town, which is the pioneer in the use of the dog thief-catcher; and as the system has proved successtul, not only in helping; the police to capture suspects, but i;i preventing crime as well, it will be surprising it it i» mil extended to other parts of the country. The dogs principally used lor criminal woi'K are Airedale terriers and cross-bred bloodhounds. .Scientific tests have pruvul that the former species of dog can hear, roughly, 4(11) yards farther oil' than a man, and it i s this class of canme watcher that has rendered such effective work at Hull. The dogs accompany the police on patrol, and are taught to obey the calls of small trumpets, which the officers carry. The animals are held on leash, and slipped when required to render assistance.

A large leather muzzle covers the dog's head, so that when they make for their quarry and seize him they cannot bite. The duty of the dog-policeman is merely to throw and hold the supposed miscreant until his human colleague arrives. The dog 8 arc even trained to upset bicycles, so that the scorcher, or the thiol who tries to escape on wheels, may very easily be caught. They are also taught to recognise the night watchman in uniform, so that policemen themselves a'e never in danger of being attacked or mistaken for prowlers. Even the discharge of firearms does not frighten the well-trained terrier. And, lastly, the dogs are trained to refuse the insidious sausage, which may be well seasoned with strychnine when it is offered by a strange hand. Marvellous proofs of the sagacity of police dogs w-ore given at the remarkable trials recently held at Paris, when French, Belgian, and German dogs were tested in the art of capturing supposed criminals and in discovering hidden persons, pursuing them, and holding them captive. Part oi the programme was to confront each dog with an Apache attired in the classic costume of a red neckerchief, broad-brimmed hat slouched over the eyes, and no collar. The dogs were, of course, muzzled, otherwise the amateur Apaches would have passed a bad quarter of an hour; but, as it was, they wero attacked with great fury by their canine assailants and bowled over like ninepins. In another experiment the dog's master captured a supposed burglar, who in the struggle dropped a sack containing the booty. The dog watched the arrest with a critical eye, prepared to assist if UU services were required, and when the burglar was marched oil' to prison stood centry over the loot—without a word or sign irom hi 3 master—until the olliccr returned and relieved him of his duty. Among other accomplishments the dogs displayed were to climb walls and to take high jumps of over 6ft., au-1 long jumps of lift. How to knock a man down by running between his legs, and how to keep him on the. ground with vigorous blows of the muzzle, were acts in which thev all displayed the greatest skill.

One of the dogs recently trained to assist the Paris police was not lonjj in giving an account of himself. Cioiag out with a couple of police-sergeants, he came across a group of beggars in the Boulevard Carnot at St. Denis, and 1)J----gan to sniff, whereupon a cripple hit hi.n on the nose with a piece of iron. Tile dog remembered that blow. Finding himself some time afterwards at l'ierrelitte in a professional capacity, lie suddenly pounced upon a one-arm .-d man standing at the door of a wineshop. The dog's ill-humour attracted the attention of the policemen accompanying him, and they recognised in the one-anned man the ' cnl-de-jatte ' of St. Denis. The man was taken to the police-station and stripped. It was iouud that he was an impostor— that be had both arms, becoming ill turn u blind man and a cripple. Another French dog distinguished himself in a signal fashion. A ang of burglars was arrested at Nt. Muiir; only the leader escaped. Some days aft ;r----wards it was ascertained that the fugitive had taken refuge in an abandojyd house, which two police-inspectors entered along with a dog-assistant. On seeing the onicer* the man pro- > duced a knife, and was about to attack one of the policemen, when the dog jumped at his throat and succeeded in upsetting him. The man was inimcdiatclv seized and bound. One of the mosl-falked-of dog-policemen in France is known by the name of Lion. Kecently he covered himself with glory at Aren'eil. Systematic plundering had been going on'at the railway goods yard, and, despite the efl'orts of the police nn clue to the thieves could be found. The local inspector, at a loss for an expedient, thought of the police dog, and requisitioned one. Lion was accordingly sent down and turned loose in the yard. The very lirst night he unearthed a man hiding in a truck. The man was arrested, but on the way to the station he broke away; lie. was speedily overtaken and thrown in the approved style by Lion, after which he went quietly. "In her police dogs 'Paris possesses the most efficient force in the world. The cost of running the kennels is under £SOO a year, and the law-abiding Parisian does not grudge the outlay, for he has come to realise what a splendid adjunct dogs arc to the police force. ' The •chien de police' of Belgium are historic, and one of these well-trained and faithful animals always accompanies a policeman on night duty, both in town and country. . ltelating the achievements ol his dogs, 11 van YVcscmael, Police Commissioner of (Silent, recently told a remarkable storv of an arrest by one of them, named Beer. Due night Heer came upon live drunken follows wrecking a saloon on the outskirts of the city. The men were making a great uproar, and a resolute resistance to the law was feared. Boer wa 9 let oil' the leash, and the line ' animal sprang forward without a sound. When the patrol reached the spot, four of the men had fled, and Beer was ' clutching the iifth by the leg. The mo-, meat the ollicer appeared Beer gave u.i ' his prisoner, and was oil' like the wnul| •mi (he trail of Ihe fugitives. He ' M.wdilv tracked them down, and so de- ■ tc.rmin'ed was Jieer to overcome them " I hat they offered In give themselves up if he we're kept under control! In Cennany police dogs are als'i ivardcil as a, necessary part of the equipment of the ollicers of the law; and in Kusisa, too, they are found very serviceable, both in catching criminals and revolutionaries.