Pol. Maj. Gen. Panop Vorathanatchakul, commander of a special unit, has unveiled the 2023 police dog rankings on the occasion of the Thai Police Dog Foundation Day on March 3, 2023.
He said the Police Dog, or K-9, Unit is a division within the Patrol and Special Operations Department that was originally established to support police work.
All police dogs are specially trained for their duties such as sniffing out criminals, drugs and bombs. It can also be trained to demonstrate how to rescue victims and to check property in disputes by smelling and assisting police officers with other requirements.
An average police dog works for 8 years. They are classified according to their nature. For example, if the dog is alert, it is trained to detect drugs. If the dog is not afraid of loud noises, it will be trained to defuse a bomb.
The training will take at least one year. The first 3 months are basic training before the dog is assigned to its main task for 6 months. The police dog will have to complete another 6-month internship before being officially classified as a police officer.
The unit conferred the title of “Maj. Police Dog” and awarded both the police dogs and officers to recognise the successful operations.
This year, 87 police dogs were awarded, including “Ira”, a 3-year-and-11-month-old brown and black female shepherd, and “Cola”, a 5-year-and-3-month-old brown male Magyar Vizsla, both of whom assisted in the ‘Nong Chomphu’ and ‘Ice the Iron Chest’ operations.
The Nong Chomphu case involved a 3-year-old girl who was found dead on 11 May 2020. Her uncle, Lung Pol, was suspected of being irritated by her crying. So he wrapped his hand around her face until she fell unconscious.
He threw her body on the road and went back to run his errands. When he returned, she was not dead and had disappeared into the forest. He pursued her in the forest until he found her body and then tried to camouflage it.
Ice The Iron Chest case involved Apichai Aongvisit, Ice, who imprisoned and tortured Varinthorn Chaichet, 24, in mid-2019. He locked her in a chest in a room. When she was found dead, he and his team dug a hole and put her body inside. The police officer later found her body near her house in Bang Khae, Bangkok, on 9 January 2020.
