PSP dogs are internationally recognized and their preparation has attracted other police forces, such as the one from the Netherlands, which is currently in Lisbon to jointly train the detection of explosives in terrorist attacks.
The Cinotechnical Operational Group of the Special Police Unit (UEP) is carrying out, together with the Dutch police, an exercise, between 4 and 22 November, which consists of preparing and training dogs to detect explosive devices that are normally used in terrorist attacks.
Around 20 police officers from the Netherlands participated in this joint training in which they hope to learn and better prepare their dogs together with the Portuguese ‘dog technicians’ (a police officer and a dog).
“The Portuguese police use a greater variety of odors than the Dutch police do not have,” Marcel Timmerman, an instructor in the area of explosive detection at the Baixos Police Police, told Lusa.
Marcel Timmerman is in Portugal for the second time to train with the PSP and highlighted this type of exercises with other police forces for better preparation.
“We chose not only the Portuguese, but also other countries to train together and improve. But, in this case, the Dutch police chose the Portuguese because of the greater amount of odors and preparation”, he maintained.
The Dutch police officer also stated that, during these weeks of training together with the police officers of the Cinotécnico Operational Group, the Dutch teams learned a lot, stressing that it is in these actions that they talk “about training the dogs, the way they train and how the police train “.
“This type of training is very important because security is a very important thing in the Netherlands, but also in Portugal and throughout Europe. Therefore, we train together to improve and to fight against crime”, he explained.
In turn, the commander of the Cinotechnical Operational Group (GOC), Ângelo Araújo, explained to Lusa that this type of training consists of preparing dogs from the Portuguese and Dutch police, as well as from other countries that have already carried out exercises together with the PSP. , to be “better prepared for the terrorist threats that have occurred in recent years”.
Highlighting that the security forces are “increasingly prepared”, the PSP officer highlighted the fact that the Portuguese police are sought out by other countries to train their dogs and that this preparation is internationally recognized: “We are fortunate and have the professionalism of our colleagues from the Explosive Inactivation and Underground Security Center who, by virtue of their knowledge and ‘know how’, have managed to reproduce some of these mission threats”.
According to Ângelo Araújo, since the attacks in Brussels in 2016, several countries were aware of the work that the PSP was developing, having since formed partnerships with numerous countries, from the Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland, France for training together with the agents Portuguese.
“We were lucky to have some police officers with some unusual skills, outside the scope of just police. We are talking about homemade explosives, improvised explosives. Here the useful and the pleasant came together. Combining the kinesthetic part with the inactivation part of explosives and, therefore, we made this happy marriage in the Portuguese case and which has been recognized by other countries”, he maintained.
Regarding the joint exercise with the Netherlands police, the PSP officer said: “These three weeks are dedicated to this specific specialty, which is the detection of explosive devices, especially improvised explosive devices.”
The GOC commander said that these improvised explosives are substances often used in terrorist attacks and “it is in these cases that Portugal tries to be prepared and, if possible, even further ahead”.
Lusa attended a training session, at the Campolide train station, in Lisbon, in which police from both countries tried to “reproduce a real scenario” which involved “tracking” a train where some of these explosive substances were hidden. The objective is for the ‘cynotechnical teams’ from Portugal and the Netherlands to locate the explosives.
Ângelo Araújo stressed that “it’s a job that can only be learned on the ground”.
“It’s not enough to read a book, it’s not enough to talk. We need to be on the ground to collect information and, therefore, we try to test scenarios for our kinesthetic binomials so that, within the knowledge they have, within the exchange with Dutch colleagues, we can develop our technical skills, not only from the dog’s point of view, but also from the handler’s point of view”, he said.
Source: www.cmjornal.pt
