A group of 20 students from University of Rwanda-College of ‎Agriculture, Animal Sciences and Veterinary medicine, yesterday visited the Rwanda National Police (RNP) canine brigade as part of their field study, to learn the lifestyle of the sniffer dogs.

Led by Dr. Ryan Caroline, the Head of Veterinary Medicine Department, the students were received by Assistant Commissioner of Police Celestin Twahirwa, commissioner for Public Relations and Media together with the Deputy Commissioner for Interpol, ACP Peter Karake.

Also present was Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Innocent Semigabo, the commanding officer of the Canine Brigade.

During their meeting at the police headquarters, the students were given an overview of the canine brigade; the lifestyle of the sniffer dogs and their health.

"As part of an agreement between RNP and UR, we are proud to work together in terms of skills development; there is no doubt there is a lot for the students to learn from our canine brigade,” said ACP Twahirwa.

‎Through the partnership agreement, the two institutions committed to work together in various fields including training and exchange of best practices, among others.

On behalf of the students, Dr. Caroline said that the MoU offers an opportunity that is of mutual benefit to all parties in terms of skills transfer.

"The same way RNP is interested in developing a set of skills is the same way we can as well learn a lot from the force especially when it comes to hands-on skills we believe if our students got internship with the police there is a lot they can learn,” she said.

During their visit, students said they are much interested in learning the biological lifestyle of the dog.

The students requested if their school could take custody of retired sniffer dogs since they are trained and would be easy to use in experiments.

Police has three dog breeds; the German shepherd, the English springer spaniel and the Labrador retriever. Each of these breed have their advantages that are based on either size or speed.

All these detect drugs and explosives.

When police acquires a dog, it is put under intense general training to identify which area of expertise the dog can be good at.

Police is currently planning to expand the brigade to all provinces.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw