Sentinels of the city
What makes a smart police dog? Faye Bradley visits the Hong Kong Police Dog Unit Headquarters in Sha Ling to bring our readers an exclusive behind-the-scenes story.
Public relations
Thanks to community engagement efforts by the PDU, there is a growing awareness of police dogs' roles in protecting the city from crime. Even those who are nervous around dogs appreciate the service rendered by police dogs, especially at public events. Police dogs have been involved in various community outreach programs, like demonstrating their skills to audiences visiting the station. Such events help in generating greater public awareness of the roles played by explosives-detection dogs, for example.
Many Hong Kong schools are keen to have their students find out more about police dogs. "Most schools welcome us," Fan says. "Some even adjust their curriculums to fit in our visits." She adds that certain schools have recently added a section about police dogs into their awareness programs about the role of police in society "because they realized that kids remember more when there's a dog involved" in the story.
