K9 squad helped crack close to 300 cases in past 5 years

Mysuru: Dog squads, an integral part of the policing system, are playing a significant role in assisting police in cracking various crimes. Over the last five years, the Mysuru City police dog squad helped solve 291 cases, while the district dog squad contributed to the cracking of 693 cases.

According to data shared by home minister G Parameshwara in response to an unstarred question raised by Mandya MLC Madhu G Madegowda, 2,331 crimes were cracked across Karnataka through police dog squads in 2025. The minister also informed the House that the current strength of the police dog squad in the state is 274 dogs, against a sanctioned strength of 322. The department spends Rs 400 per day per dog towards food and maintenance.

As per the details furnished, the Mysuru City dog squad has 10 dogs-Rashmi, Ganga, Kusha, Raksha, Datta, Krishna, Yodha, Arjuna and Garuda. The Mysuru district dog squad has 7 dogs-Browno, Sweeti, Isha, Maina, Ricky and Hero.

Within the city limits, the dog squad detected 67 cases, highest number of cases in 2021-22, which was followed by 57 cases in 2022-23, 60 cases in 2023-24, 61 cases in 2024-25, and 43 cases in 2025-26 until Jan.

In Mysuru district, the dog squad helped crack 151 cases, the highest in the last five years, in 2022-23.

In his reply, the home minister stated that different dog breeds are deployed for specific policing purposes. German shepherds and Dobermans are primarily used for crime detection and tracking duties, while Labrador retrievers and Belgian malinois are deployed for specialised tasks such as explosive detection, narcotics detection and recovery of bodies.