Police get dogs

 By PHOEBE GWANGILO 
Omni Foundation donated five German Shepherd puppies to police yesterday.
Police commissioner Gari Baki thanked the foundation and said the dogs would be most useful for police work.
“Just coming here and seeing these seven-  month-old pups gives me encouragement that this is a step forward and will assist us to build capability,” he said at the Bomana Police College in Port Moresby.
Baki said with the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec)  leaders’ summit in PNG in 2018,  the police dog unit would be a vital cog in their security set up.
“I’ve been emphasising on the fact that we are trying to build our capabilities and the dog unit is one of the directives that we are concentrating on,” he said.
“We are ordering some dogs from overseas as well, but these would be the start of what we want to do internally so that we can cut down on costs.
“We will look at the outcome of the five dogs once training commences.
“ We will look at the suitability and if we agree that this is the  line of approach  we will take  then we will come back to the foundation and ask them to continue to assist us in  the breeding process.”
Secretary of the Omni Foundation James Inglis said such dogs cost K20,000-K25,000 each.
“We have donated at no cost and we feel that with this one donation, which is fairly small.
These pups are going to significantly increase the capabilities of the dog squad,” he said.
German Shepherds are suited to police work in this part of the world.