DOGS have been used by various societies since ancient times, to help protect people and property, security being ranked next to food in man’s hierarchy of needs. The Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks and Romans all deployed fierce dogs in war, Hammurabi, the king of Babylon, assigned war dogs to his soldiers as far back as 2100 BC. Dogs also played a significant role in the expansion of the Roman Empire. In modern warfare dogs have been deployed as a force multiplier and functions as a highly sophisticated and versatile extension of modern law enforcement efforts.   
Historical background:
In June 1960, in an attempt to control what was then considered ‘the growing crime rate’, the Guyana Police Force enlisted its first police dog ‘RIO’ an Alsatian of local ancestry which was bought from a Georgetown based  family, then domiciled at Bent Street. The Force’s attempt to secure training for an officer in the United Kingdom was unsuccessful, and alternate training was obtained through the Trinidad Police Force, for the first trained dog handler, in the person of Corporal 5083 Williams, who upon his return, assisted to set the technical substratum for the deployment of police dogs in Guyana.
On June 18 1964, a British dog trainer Sgt. Robert Bob Ling arrived from the United Kingdom to spend one year in Guyana, training policemen as dog handlers. From all reports, he conducted an extensive training programme of an exceedingly high caliber, though four of the dogs which he had arrived with, died shortly thereafter, from the intense heat which prevailed at the time. During the next few years, a second gift of dogs was received from the United States of America, and local breeding was made possible.
The canine division then supervised by Cecil Skip Roberts, had helped tremendously in the prevention of crime, to the extent that Police Dogs were posted in outlining areas which improved the police’s effectiveness in these districts. Regrettably, Police Dog RIO’s brief career came to a tragic end on 13th September 1965. By 1970, the police Force had several  outstanding man- dog teams, and had since enlisted its first female handler W291 Smith, in 1974, at the zenith of its popularity, the Force had in its ranks a number of outstanding police dogs,  Bryan, Vince, Ross and Warren just to name a few.
It was Warren however, who brought the GPF canine division international respectability, when he and his handler Sgt. 6663 Roger Mattar, played  a mammoth role in Montserrat’s most popular manhunt, which culminated in the capture of the notorious fugitive William Bramble called ‘Fine Twine’ on July 18 1974. During this period several constabulary type canine divisions were started and trained along with the police, two were the GUYMINE constabulary and the Guyana National Shipping Corporation, whose handlers were as well trained as the canine officers of the Guyana Police Force. 

Twist of fate:

By 1980, the police canine division had started its decline which was due mainly to economic circumstances; this in turn had a negative influence upon the morale of the handlers. Authors Rod Price and Lorna Chamberlain in their book Animal Welfare & Human Values aptly described it thus: “the culture of a society- which is in some significant respects a reflection of the economy- will promote a certain set of attitudes towards animals at any given time and will thus create the context, the boundaries, within which legitimate beliefs will operate”.
Over time, the GPF K-9 section had lost its ability to effectively deploy dogs, as its technical capability diminished with the retirement of knowledgeable senior officers and handlers who either resigned or sought transfer from the division. By 1982, the National Guard Service, a quasi constabulary type Industrial security force, had replaced the GPF as the provider of certain types of services which included patrol, crowd control and escort duties, to date the GPF has not been able to recover from these challenges, even after receiving assistance on numerous occasions, from Trinidad and Tobago the U.K Canada, U.S.A, and South Korea among others.

From the literature:

Many newly independent nations of the Commonwealth found it difficult to sustain their K-9 units mainly due to economic circumstances, but also due to the deployment practices which they inherited from the British. It is important to note that the introduction of K-9 units began around the same time in the developing world (1956-1960) and went into decline around the same period (1980). So profound was their decline that it affected the countries of the Soviet Union and New Zealand which was in a better economic position than most. With the only exception to this rule being  Uganda, today the K-9 unit in that country remains in the same condition in which it was handed over by the British.
Notwithstanding the above, economic difficulties are among the chief reasons for the disbandment of K-9 units around the world even today. If Specialist Service Dogs are to play an important role in the control of crime in Guyana, there needs to be an urgent reappraisal of the rationale and deployment modalities of the police K- 9 unit, and the development of a deployment model which is best suitable to Guyana’s socio- economic and geographic conditions.
Given its size and crime rate, South Africa was the only developing country which utilized dogs extensively, a practice which continues today. While dogs are used extensively in European and North American societies, South Africa, India, Israel, China, South Korea and Argentina have developed indigenous deployment models peculiar to their special conditions. Thus, South Africans are credited with providing the most specialists dog handlers for mine clearing efforts in war torn countries around the world.

Capability profile & special advantages:

Dogs are possessed of certain special qualities which make them indispensible. Even the most complex machines remain unable to duplicate the operational effectiveness of a properly trained dog. The dog’s physical dexterity, auditory acuity (sense of hearing), vomeronasal ability (which enhances smelling) and olfactory capacity (sense of smell) makes it a force to be reckoned with. Were a dog to lose its olfactory capacity, it would still be able to smell fairly well. Owning to their anatomy, dogs can cover greater distance than humans at any given time. This advantage allows them to change direction at an instant and intercept fleeing fugitives at sharp angles.
A properly trained dog can apprehend and keep detained up to six persons. Since dogs can detect human odor from distances greater than 500 yards, police dogs and their handlers cannot be ambushed, thus they provide special protection to their handlers. As dogs are not susceptible to the vicissitudes of life in the same way as humans, they are not affected by the psychological ups and downs which affect police officers, thus they can be relied upon to utilize their training and special abilities for enhancing the work of the police force with greater assurance.
A dog can examine a vehicle in 5 to 6 minutes, while a cursory search by a human would take at least 20 minutes. Dogs can check packages in a fraction of the time needed by human examiners. A canine team can process 400 to 500 packages in 30 minutes.
Olfaction based detection:
A dog has 150 sq cm of nasal mucous membrane as compared to three sq cm in humans. A dog has 224 million receptor cells in its nose while humans have between two and four million receptor cells. Thus, a dog can be trained to respond consistently to certain sensory stimuli (odours and scents). Dogs may investigate potential targets using visual cues, but confirm the presence of a target based on scent. It is the ability to search for target odours and then go to its source that make dogs ideal for rapid target recognition in field settings.
Trained dogs are able to distinguish human remains long after death, despite burial or attempted concealment. They are also able to distinguish between human remains, animal remains and a wide range of other odours that would normally be expected to distract them.  This is because dogs do not scent as humans do, rather, they perform segmented olfaction – as they are capable of separately scenting the various minute components which emanates from a single scent cone.
Dogs can generalise scents for e.g. if they are trained  to detect benzene and kerosene, they will be able to generalize these scents and detect gasoline and linseed oil without further training; thus a dog can actually detect and distinguish up to 19,000 chemical substances and explosives used to manufacture bombs. 

Challenges & disadvantages:

There are ten main causes of police dog deaths namely 🙁 1) traffic accidents, (2) inflicted trauma, (3) friendly and hostile gun fire (4) falls, and (5) drowning, these have to do directly with the hazards of the job. To be followed by (6) degenerative diseases, (7) heat exhaustion, (8) Infection, (9) heart failure and (10) cancers. Additionally, there are few pieces of equipment to protect service dogs from the inhalation of noxious gases or from otherwise being contaminated by harmful substances.
The deployment life of police dogs is reduced by about 25% in developing countries like Guyana, to around six or seven years. The main challenge to the welfare of police dogs here is the generally poor quality of water they consume, and the prevailing intense heat. While nutrition is important, genetics will determine how big and strong an animal will become, however, poor water quality could obliterate all of those gains in the shortest possible time. Cooked dog food is deficient in many important nutrients, while manufactured dog food, the ration of choice, is considered expensive in all poor and middle income countries, notwithstanding the above, there are ways around this. Another challenge to working sniffer dogs in countries like Guyana has to do with the fact that once the dog hyperventilates, and starts to breathe through its mouth, it stops sniffing period! So it is important to keep sniffer dogs cool, a constant source of problems for the Guyana Police Force.
Deployment application:
The most popular, practical and cost effective use of police dogs have been in the following areas: Public order enforcement, crowd control and management, patrol, illicit substance detection, criminal detection and apprehension, evidence location, public relations, bomb search and detection, explosive and accelerant detection, tracking and searching, human remains detection HRD (cadaver dogs) physical security, and the detection of cell phones and contraband in prisons.
Breeds for general deployment:
There are several breeds or species which could be used in Guyana for general purpose police dog deployment. The main ones are: Belgian Molino, Dutch Shepherd, Doberman, Rottweiler and Cross Breeds, which by virtue of heterocyst (hybrid vigor)   are better adapted to the local climatic conditions.
Breeds for specialist deployment: 
As always, breeds which could be successfully deployed in a specialist capacity are: Labrador Retriever, Golden Retriever, weimaraner, Spaniel, German Shepherd, Beagle and Blood Hound. I have specifically relocated the GSD on account of its susceptibility to a host of conditions which makes it a high maintenance dog.

Deployment model:

An appropriate deployment model could be determine only after a needs analysis have been done and the following questions have been answered. The unit’s mission, its size and area of responsibility, population demographics, an analysis of the crime index, present capability profile, the types of terrain and probable areas of deployment, the types of law enforcement missions for which teams can be used, the number of installations, facilities or areas that can be more adequately protected because of the availability or use of police dog teams, the capability limitations of teams when deployed in certain areas, the additional areas that can be protected using police dogs, and the additional tasks that can be done with police dog teams, that cannot be done, or cannot be done as well, with present manpower or equipment resources.