Bomb dogs recruited to help Olympic terror fight
POLICE have recruited two crime-fighting canines to keep the Olympic transport network safe from bombs.
Belgian shepherds Koda and Dibble have already started patrolling the rail network in East London after completing an eight-week training course.
They are set to become a familiar site for travellers at stations, including Stratford and West Ham, in the run-up to next summer’s Games.
The pair are passive explosive dogs, who monitor travellers and their luggage and can detect a wide range of explosives.
They are the first of their breed to be used by the British Transport Police and the only Belgian shepherds – or malinois – in the UK in this role.
You may also want to watch:
Sgt Bill Pearson, from the BTP’s explosive search dog section, said: “We chose malinois because of their high intelligence and enormous drive and stamina.
“Compared with labradors and spaniels, they offer us extended duration operations and are an important enhancement to our overall counterterrorist capability.
Most Read
- 1 Newham to start weekly recycling collections
- 2 Anonymous tip off could hold key to murder of Sami Sidhom three years later
- 3 Operose: Addressing 'understandable' concerns over GP takeover
- 4 Town hall chiefs back £3m purchase of Plaistow property for rough sleeper centre
- 5 Police officer jailed for GBH after injuring man in Forest Gate
- 6 Body found in search for missing Newham man
- 7 Housing campaigners to stage protest in Canning Town over empty homes
- 8 Newcastle's late Willock winner hits West Ham hopes
- 9 Jailed: Newham men who raped and robbed women in Hackney home
- 10 Santino Dymiter murder: Teens given life terms for 'savage' gang killing
“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.”
Koda and Dibble, who are litter brothers, have lived with their handlers, Pcs Mark Reed and Steve Gibson, since they were 12 weeks old.
The BTP currently have eight passive detection dogs and this will increase to ten by the time of the 2012 Olympics.