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Police dog in Berlin: options for retraining unclear
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Rolf Kremming / IMAGO
Specially trained dogs have been helping the police for decades, often accompanying the officers on dangerous missions.
In Berlin, however, the security forces have recently had to do without a considerable part of their four-legged supporters.
The reason is a new provision in the animal welfare dog regulation, which came into force for all of Germany at the beginning of the year, as a police spokeswoman told the dpa news agency.
According to the regulation, painful substances are prohibited in the training of dogs.
Regulation particularly affects guard dogs
The so-called guard dogs of the police are trained and led with collars, which can temporarily restrict their breath.
In this way, attacks by the dog can be stopped quickly, for example if a dog bites a suspect in order to hold him down.
The "BZ" reported about it on Tuesday.
In Berlin, 49 out of 130 police dogs are affected.
According to »BZ«, the dog handlers responsible for these animals are now supporting other police units.
Detection and search dogs, which can find drugs, explosives or people with their sense of smell, are trained and managed differently.
Nothing will change for them, say the police.
According to the information, protection dogs are used in raids or demonstrations when the police expect aggressive or dangerous situations.
The special task forces (SEK) also have such dogs that can pursue suspects or stop attackers.
Police are hoping for an exception
The new regulation also applies to police protection dogs in other federal states and to the federal police.
The law says: "It is forbidden to use spiked collars or other means that are painful for the dogs in the education, upbringing or training of dogs." According to scientific findings, such methods are not animal welfare-compliant, so the reasoning.
The Berlin police are now hoping that the interior and justice ministries will take care of the problem at the state and federal level and that exceptions may possibly be allowed.
It is unclear whether it is possible to train or retrain the trained guard dogs differently, they say.
The Berlin police were not surprised by the regulation, a spokeswoman told the rbb on Tuesday.
A draft has already been read in advance.
According to the report, criticism also came from the police union (GdP).
Effects according to the union "fatal"
The vice-chairman of the Berlin GdP, Stephan Kelm, called the effects of the new regulation on internal security "fatal".
"We are absolutely open to innovative training methods in which pain can be dispensed with," said Kelm.
However, there are currently no alternatives.
fek / dpa