With the Emirate becoming a center of international finance, the importance of police dogs in security operations — from bomb sniffing to counter-narcotics — is growing. And as a result the need for women handlers to deal with gender specific search operations is obvious.
So in a pioneering move, Dubai Police has broken new ground by appointing two women canine handlers in its canine department. This is the first time that women have qualified to work in K-9 squads in the region.
Fatima Abdullah and Badria Saleh, both Emirati citizens, underwent rigorous training before they qualified to be handlers.
“My dog, Jack, is a seven-year-old Labrador that is specialized in sniffing out drugs and other narcotics,” said Badria.
When asked what language Fatima’s dog, a Labrador named Tarzan, preferred, Fatima laughs.
“My Tarzan is very clever,” she says. “He understands both Arabic and English.”
Following orders from Lt. Gen. Dhahi Khalfan Tamim, commander-in-chief of Dubai Police, a special committee was formed to choose the team.
Maj. Abdul Salam Al-Shamsi, director of Dubai Police’s K-9 unit, says that the idea of training women for this job was not new.
“Police dogs have become an important component in crime fighting for any police force,” he said. “That is why we needed women handlers so that they can deal with missions that required women to be present.”
While dogs may have a bad reputation as pets in Islam, as working animals they are perfectly OK. And they are vital to the job of detecting explosives or drugs thanks to their incredible sense of smell, which can detect incriminating residues through clothing, luggage and the boots of vehicles.
Al-Shamsi also said that he thinks women are more patient and sensitive and this helps them bond with the animals.
“We aim to have a team of six women as part of our dog handler’s unit,” he said.
The positions were advertised within the different police departments and a few women security officers applied. Most of them did not like the job after learning more about it. But two of them decided to take on the new job and began a one-month orientation program.
Badria, who had worked with the unit that protects high value persons for two years, saw the opportunity of working with dogs as a challenge to prove her abilities as a policewoman.
“I was already familiar with dogs because my previous postings involved search operations and canines were an important part of those missions,” she said. “The first week of training focused on us getting familiar with the different breeds of canines. We were taught to play with them, pat them, and then give them orders. Then we were taught how to control them and encourage them in doing their work. After that we were each assigned a canine for a specific duty.”
Tarzan is a sniffer dog specialized in detecting explosives. Fatima, who had worked previously as a prison warden, is not fazed by the new challenge of ensuring that the tentacles of terrorist acts don’t reach the UAE.
“My job is to ensure a safe environment for all,” she said. “I have also been trained on how to deal with explosives. Tarzan is like one of my children. I have to bathe him once a week, pamper him and take him to the vet when he is not well.”
In Islam, special ablutions are required after handling dogs, namely hands must be rubbed seven times in soil, followed by the usual water ablutions prior to prayer. Fatima and Badria say they follow the prescription after they leave the dogs at the end of their workday or before prayers.
But the women say it isn’t so much the dogs that cause people to take a second glance; it’s that two Arab women are doing this type of work.
“It is normal that people will be surprised to see a woman handling a dog, as they are not used to seeing Arab women doing this type of work,” said Fatima, who quickly points out that she expects the novelty “will die out.”
They encouraged other women to take up such positions saying that there should be no stigmas attached to serving one’s nation.
So far the women have not faced any social stigmas in regard to their profession and say that their families encourage them.
“My two kids are very proud that their mother is a dog handler. They boast to their friends at school about Jack and how fierce he is,” said Badria.
