Dogs on patrol hound Cayman’s criminals

Constable Adam Scott (left) and Constable Javin
Powery sniff out criminals in Cayman with a little help
from their canine friends

Thursday, April 1, 2004

They love their job, never want to stay off work, will work seven days a week, and when their long day is done, they never complain, even if they are dog-tired.

The seven four-legged members of the Royal Cayman Islands Police (RCIP) K-9 unit are used on a 24-hour basis and cover the same beats as any other police unit.

“They are invaluable,” said Constable Adam Scott, one of the team leaders for the K-9 Unit. “They make police work 10 times easier.”

Currently, the RCIP have four German Shepherds, and three English Springer Spaniels, with both breeds possessing unique qualities that make them perfect for their specific jobs.

“Shepherds are ideal for bringing down suspects as well as detecting drugs and firearms,” said Constable Scott, “The Springer Spaniels are bred as hunting dogs, so they’ve got the natural instinct to find things, which is ideal for detecting illegal substances.”

While the RCIP K-9 Unit has been around for many years, only in the last two has it been permanently active and that is due, in part, to support from the United Kingdom.

According to Constable Javin Powery, a K-9 Unit Instructor, “The current team came from England as part of a programme set up by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. They sponsored the dogs and the initial training, which cost them approximately £250,000.”

That initial training involved weeks of evaluations and instruction before a dog was ultimately accepted onto the force.

As for whether or not they are worth the money, Constable Powery said, “Absolutely. Just watch them at work and see what they’re capable of doing. They’re worth a million dollars as far as I’m concerned.”

And over the years, the K-9 Unit certainly has proven itself. Constable Powery remembers just one incident of many: “On Valentines Day, in the mid-nineties, there was a major bank robbery at Cayman National on West Bay Road, in which over $30,000 in cash was taken. The culprits ran off with it. We used the dogs to track the suspects for two miles. They successfully recovered all the cash that was hidden in a pouch. It was very, very successful.”

Constable Scott had his own story where a dog managed to track a robbery suspect into a swamp. “The guy had actually submerged himself under an abandoned car in the swamp. It was in the water, and it was night. Despite all that, the dog was able to get in there and find him.”

Both constables admit they take their work home with them, but no one seems to mind.

“Each dog is assigned to a particular handler, and each handler has a facility at his own personal home. My dog Rajah, a German Shepherd, is with me 24-7,” explained Constable Powery.

Constable Scott is no exception, “My dog Ben, a Springer Spaniel, lives indoors with me, so he gets the best of both worlds,” he said.

And, following a four-to-five-year career of suspect chasing and property recovery, a police dog, just like any other hardened police officer, ends his days with a pension of sorts. “They get free food and medical care,” said Constable Powery.

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