Speuren, dreigen en bijten: zo werken de politiehonden

Watch the video now in 4K for the best quality. They can sniff, threaten, and in extreme cases, bite: the police surveillance dogs. A biting police dog is the police's most powerful weapon after a firearm, but what exactly are the rules? And remarkably, not a single suspect has been bitten by an Amsterdam police dog this year. Dog handlers respond to more serious calls, such as fights, riots, and stabbings. The surveillance dogs can also detect the latest human scent and thus locate suspects or objects such as burglary tools or dumped loot. According to Paul Negenborn, team leader of the Surveillance Dog Team, this search happens almost daily. "We don't have a better nose than a dog. And we don't have any other means of finding objects or people." A total of 24 dogs work there, each with a designated handler. At least six dogs are on duty each day: at least two on the night shift, at least two on the morning shift, and at least two on the evening shift. When riot police are deployed, four dogs travel with their own dog handlers in a riot police van. The van also carries a commander and a driver. In the event of unexpected disturbances, the riot police usually can't respond immediately. Other officers in the riot police have to be called in because it's a task they perform in addition to their regular duties. At times like these, the dogs can make a huge difference, according to the dog handlers. "With a police dog, I might have been able to repel a few hundred people there," says a dog handler about the fights that broke out in the Rai during the 2023 Turkish elections. A colleague of his, who joined the team afterward, says: "That dog means business. And colleagues mean business too. But somehow, people are still more afraid of the dog than of their police colleagues." National regulations for the use of police dogs have been tightened for a few years now. This was already being considered, but a broadcast of the television program Zembla accelerated the process. The program showed a few examples of minor incidents from other regions where the dog did bite. A "Police Dog Course" has now been developed. It stipulates, among other things, that police dogs must always be on a leash, except in very exceptional circumstances. Clearer rules have also been established in the official instructions. In the past, some bite incidents occurred while searching for suspects. While the dog was often on a leash, it needed some room to move around during the search and was therefore on a longer leash. To prevent dogs from biting when a suspect is suddenly found—sometimes this happened when a suspect ran away in fright—the police now sometimes use muzzles. A disadvantage of muzzles is that the dogs' sense of smell is impaired. They also cannot defend themselves if a suspect tries to harm them. Therefore, research is being conducted into a muzzle that can be opened remotely. Muzzles can be used to search for missing persons, such as elderly people with dementia who have become lost. Officers are also not required to warn of the dog's use when searching for suspects: with a muzzle, it is not a means of violence that can cause injury. The new rules, likely just like the introduction of stun guns for officers in the basic teams, have had an effect on the number of bite incidents. Previously, these were not centrally tracked, but they have been since 2022. That year, the Amsterdam police dogs bit 24 times. A year later, it was 9, and this year, so far, there are zero. This means that no activists were bitten during the demonstrations around the University of Amsterdam, where the dogs were occasionally seen. Team leader Negenborn emphasizes that the dogs are only called out when, for example, demonstrations are expected to be unpeaceful. In those cases, they are initially in the riot police van, and only released at the request of the general commander in the event of (imminent) escalation. He emphasizes, however, like the dog handlers, that the future number of bite incidents is difficult to predict. This can lead to a sudden increase in biting incidents during violent riots, and there are also situations where a stun gun is ineffective. "The dog, as a means of violence, is still under the gun. Biting is unfortunately part of the means of violence. So if necessary, the dog handler shouldn't hesitate to use it," he says. ❌ ❌ ❌ AT5 - Real Amsterdam News Subscribe to our YouTube channel here:    / at5   Tips or comments? Whatsapp: 06 511 909 38 Phone: 020 555 1155 Follow AT5: www.at5.nl Instagram: instagram.com/at5.nl Facebook: facebook.com/at5nl Twitter: twitter.com/at5