For the first time in the state, the city police has appointed two women cops to handle sniffer dogs. Dog squad became a part of the city police in 1965. A special unit to train and handle the sniffers was started in the city in 2001.
The unit now has seven sniffers and with the addition of two new sniffers including an eight-month-old Madhana, the number has increased to nine.
About ten sniffers from Dindigul and Palayamkottai were trained here at the unit. The squad has been used in many cases including murder, robbery, bomb and drugs detection. For the past 21 years, men cops were handling the sniffers.
For the first time in the state, women cops were deployed to handle the sniffers. The constables – Kavipriya, a native of Tirupur district and Bhavani, a native of Theni district – were working with home guards. While Kavipriya has been handling a sniffer named Wilma, Bhavani has been handling Madhana.