Certis Cisco launches first auxiliary police K-9 unit here
He is an avid dog lover who is working as an auxiliary police officer with Certis Cisco.
When the chance came for Mr Chan Yubo, 23, to mix both his career and interest, he responded quickly.
He is one of the first nine dog handlers in Certis Cisco's new K-9 unit, which was launched yesterday at the Certis Cisco Centre in Paya Lebar.
Certis K-9, the first auxiliary police K-9 unit in Singapore, will work alongside auxiliary police and aviation security officers to safeguard key installations here. These include airports, sea ports, transport hubs and at major events where human traffic is high.
Mr Chan, an auxiliary police officer for almost five years, said: "I really love dogs. I have a chihuahua at home. When I heard of this opportunity, I decided to join immediately."
He was paired with Thomas, a labrador retriever, when he joined the unit in September last year. He said: "Thomas has a lot of patience, and we get along perfectly. There's time for work and also for play. He especially likes his squishy ball."
Certis will start with 10 dogs. One dog is undergoing explosives detection training in Britain.The dogs are brought in from Britain and the Netherlands and undergo the same training as their Singapore Police Force counterparts.
Mr Matthew Ng, commanding officer of the enforcement and events division of the Certis auxiliary police force, said the dogs will be assigned to tasks such as cargo screening and conducting deterrence patrols.
He added that canines may sometimes be better than humans or machines in carrying out screening work.
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