Army wants US$102,000 for canine unit

Margareth S. Aritonang, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | National | Wed, October 17 2012, 9:40 PM

The Army is asking lawmakers for US$102,000 to procure 17 military working dogs for $6,000 each.

“It’s worth it because such specially trained dogs can be used to trace and attack criminals,” Army chief Gen. Pramono Edhie Wibowo told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting with lawmakers on House Commission I overseeing defense on Wednesday.

The canine unit would be assigned to the Presidential Security Detail (Paspamres) and maintained by the Army’s Special Forces Command (Kopassus), which already has several canine units, Pramono said.

“They [Paspamres] will be in charge of the dogs so we don’t need to form a special unit to train and take care of them. However, Kopassus can use the dogs anytime we need them,” Pramono said. (swd)