EDITORIAL - Doggone

Dogs can be adorable, and they have a proven capability for sniffing out drugs, smuggled currency and explosives. Making dogs’ acute sense of smell useful in law enforcement, however, requires rigorous training in the hands of experts. You pay good money for this highly specialized skill, which is why a full-grown canine trained in bomb detection could cost hundreds of thousands of pesos.

Because of the terrorist threat, public attention has been drawn to the K-9 corps of the military and police. Many public places are, in a manner of speaking, going to the dogs: the canines sniff out luggage at airports, shopping malls, government offices and foreign embassies. They were at the cemeteries during the All Saints’ Day weekend. Some people have greater trust in the canines than in some members of the military and police.

Trust anything good in the uniformed services, however, to be tainted with scandal. Lawmakers want to look into reports that the acquisition of some of the canines was overpriced. Worse, police officials said some of the dogs have flunked bomb-sniffing tests. Now at least two of the main suppliers of trained dogs are fighting and defending their credentials.

Canine bomb-sniffers are not the main detectors of explosives, but they complement manual searches as well as metal detectors and similar devices. The K-9 corps is needed by both the military and police. Properly trained, the dogs can be highly useful as well in private establishments such as nightclubs and restaurants — the so-called soft targets for terrorists.

From their acquisition to their maintenance, however, trained canines do not come cheap. If substantial amounts are going to be spent for the purchase of these dogs, the government better make sure taxpayers will get value for their money. The government must see to it that the acquisition process is aboveboard and that previous purchases were not tainted with corruption.

Because of the prohibitive cost of the dogs, the government may also consider sending its own teams abroad to learn about training canines for law enforcement purposes. Or experts can be brought to the Philippines to train soldiers and policemen. Meanwhile, the government must see to it that each of the canines currently deployed against criminals and terrorists know what they are supposed to be looking for.