The Uganda Police Force has imported sniffer 10 dogs in addition to the 30 puppies that are being trained to become future sniffer dogs that would be used in fighting crime in the country.
This was disclosed by James Ochaya, the Director Research Planning and Development, while appearing before Parliament’s Internal Affairs Committee, where the force had been summoned to update Parliament on its performance for the 2022/2023 financial year.
“We have been able to import five pairs of canine dogs to enhance breeding and currently we have 30 puppies being trained at the Nagalama breeding centre. This new unit brings the number of canine units to 88 but that is only 47% of the country coverage,” he said.
It should be recalled that in January 2023, during the consideration of the 2023/2024 national budget, the Uganda Police Force requested for Shs4.968 billion for the procurement of 750 dogs to expand the Force’s canine unit in a bid to fight crime in the country, but only Shs 310 million had been availed, leaving a funding gap of Shs4.658 billion.
According to the Uganda Police Force, there were 19,716 tracking conducted by the canine unit, resulting in the arrest of 15,927 suspects and recovery of 6,386 exhibits, while 5,784 suspects were taken to court.
