NEW DELHI: In a city rattled by hoax bomb threats, high-stakes #security drills and drug busts, Delhi's most loyal frontline defenders are falling short -not in spirit, but in numbers. The Delhi Police dog squad, vital to detecting bombs, tracing suspects, and locating the miss-ing, is operating at just 60% of its sanctioned strength.
With only 64 dogs on duty instead of the required 105, the Capital's canine force is stretched dangerously thin.
The pressure has only inten-sified since July last year, when the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) came into effect, calling for forensic-led policing across India. In Delhi, where more than 500 hoax bomb threats were recorded in 2024 alone-targeting schools, rail-way stations, and markets-the demand for trained dogs has skyrocketed. Yet, in six of the city's 15 police districts, dogs are not easily available.
Back in August 2023, police commissioner Sanjay Arora issued a directive: every district must have its own dog squad, and select police stations should be equipped with specialised kennels. Two years later, that vision remains mostly unful filled. Vast swathes of the city-police districts including South, Southeast. Dwarka, Shahdara, Rohini and Outer Delhi-remain without a single dog. And in the districts that do, numbers barely meet emer-gency needs.
According to the Crime Branch, which oversees the K9 squad, each district should house at least seven dogs-trained in explosives, narcotics, and track ing. But internal records accessed by HT show a stark shortfall: Northeast Delhi has just two dogs: North has four, Central and East have five each,
New Delhi and Southwest fare slightly better with eight and nine dogs respectively. Eleven of the 64 dogs are stationed with the Crime Branch, serving city-wide emergency needs.
Senior police officers say they're often forced to "borrow" dogs from neighbouring dis-tricts or the Crime Branch for routine security checks, VIP movements, and special events. "We even rely on CISF's dogs for help during large-scale deploy-ments," said an officer in New Delhi district, which handles the bulk of VIP movements.
Even where dogs are availa-ble, they are often overworked and fatigued.
"Dogs can work for about an hour at a time, especially Labradors and Golden Retrievers. In summer, they tire quickly and need at least 30-45 minutes of rest between deployments," said head constable Vishal Singh, a dog handler. "Belgian Malinois are more efficient-they can go longer, but they're also expensive and difficult to procure.
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