Problems of the activity of canine units of the National Police in the conditions of war

Abstract

The article highlights the main problematic issues that arise during the organization of the activities of the canine units of the National Police of Ukraine. The author's vision of the main ways and directions of solving the existing problems and peculiarities of the National Police's activities in the conditions of martial law has been formed. Emphasis is also placed on new promising directions for the use of service dogs in the police and other structures of the security and defense sector. Amendments to the regulatory framework are proposed to regulate the use of K9 units.
 These conclusions should become the basis for the initial scientific development of the issue of using service dogs, and subsequently for the practical implementation of the developed provisions. This, in turn, will allow the functions and tasks of canine units to be implemented at a qualitatively new level.
 It has been determined that the main problematic issues that arise today are: significant movements of people on the territory of Ukraine and the appearance of a large number of weapons, ammunition and explosives lead to an increase in the number of facts of their illegal use, including transportation, storage even without the purpose of using them for their intended purpose. In addition, the facts of illegal drug trafficking in the places of hostilities, cases of the involvement of service dogs of the National Police in anti-mine activities and the search for corpses and places of mass burials have become increasingly widespread.
 Currently, there are many conflicts and gaps in the current legislation regarding the grounds and procedure for the use of service dogs, however, in the course of this article the focus will be solely on the organisational and rational aspects of using a service dog as a means of detecting and identifying illicit substances, as well as for conducting a search in certain difficult situations.
 One of the key areas of activity in the field of improving canine support is the expansion of the staff and areas of use of service dogs, as well as addressing the issue of targeted training of individuals in certain non-canine units in order to fully support police activities in all areas.