SINGAPORE — Security service provider Certis now has a sniffer dog squad that is officially certified by the Singapore Police Force.

The Certis Cisco K-9 unit, or Certis K-9, is the first auxiliary police force K-9 unit here to be certified by the police to be ready to assist with detection work.

The five dogs, comprising three English springer spaniels and two labrador retrievers, have been trained to detect a range of substances, including contraband and explosives.   

They have undergone three to four months of training and will get their first confidential assignment soon this month.

The company said that the dogs have “achieved the same stringent standards” demanded of the police’s own K-9 unit, and will be deployed to a large-scale live entertainment event to conduct security sweep operations. 

Certis is also working on plans to deploy the squad to its other clients in the aviation, entertainment and hospitality sectors.

“Certis K-9 will complement and augment security operations by pre-empting, detecting and deterring threats at deployment sites with high visitor volume like seaports, transport hubs and major events,” it added.

During a ceremony on Wednesday (Oct 16) at the Certis headquarters, Mr Ronald Poon, chief executive officer of Certis Singapore, presented the dogs and handlers with working harnesses and proficiency badges.

Mr Matthew Ng, the commanding officer of Certis Cisco’s enforcement and events division, said that in tandem with the Certis K-9 dog handlers, auxiliary police officers can now carry out sweeps faster and with greater accuracy compared to manual and even machine checks. 

The dogs may be used, for instance, during checks on vehicles. The usual method of screening a vehicle by an officer may take around 15 minutes, but the dogs take less than half the time.

On the police accreditation, Mr Ng said: “It means that we trained (the dogs) to the same standard (as those) of our national police and we will have interoperability, which means our doctrines and operation procedures are the same. 

“When there is a detection, we follow the same procedures and the police will be very confident with our dogs… That is very important to us, to have a national standard.” 

The next group of Certis K-9 dogs will be certified in April next year, where there will be another four dogs to be assessed.