Vehicle crisis for dog unit

[caption id="attachment_160642" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Police K9 Units in Nelson Mandela should have a combined 12 vehicles to operate, but have only three[/caption]

The wheels of the elite police K9 unit have fallen off, with the specialist unit having only two vehicles to respond to priority crimes or other emergencies in Nelson Mandela Bay and surrounding towns.

A third vehicle – which had been fitted with a makeshift dog cage – was rendered unusable yesterday after orders were given to remove the illegal structure.

The two remaining cars have to service a vast area of 23 policing precincts, including the entire Nelson Mandela Bay region and stretching as far as Addo, Paterson, Jeffreys Bay, Steytlerville and other outlying towns.

To make matters worse, the subdivisions within the K9 unit, including search-and-rescue, and fire, perlemoen and dagga sniffer dogs, have no vehicles at all, paralysing these sections completely.

The Uitenhage K9 unit is the worst off, with the sole vehicle it had now out of commission after the cage was removed.

The Port Elizabeth K9 unit has only two vehicles to respond to priority crimes and none for the subdivisions.

The situation is so bad that police officials are forced to borrow cars from other police stations just to do their job, but without their dogs, because no transport kennels are fitted to these vehicles.

Both the units should have a combined response fleet of at least 12 operational vehicles with lights, sirens and kennels.