Chinese police recruit drug-sniffing squirrels

Forget the dogs. The police in China release the squirrels.

Law enforcement officials in the city of Chongqing have reportedly announced that they are training a team of drug-sniffing squirrels to help search for illegal substances and contraband.

Insider reports that the police dog brigade in the southwest China city “now has a team of six red squirrels to help them sniff out drugs in the nooks and crannies of warehouses and storage units.”

According to insiders, “Chongqing police told state-affiliated media outlet The Paper that these squirrels are small and agile and are able to search tiny spaces in warehouses and storage units that dogs can’t reach,” and that the “squirrels have been trained scratching boxes with their claws to warn their caregivers if they spot drugs, police said.”

“Squirrels have a very good sense of smell. However, it has been less technologically advanced for us in the past to train rodents to search for drugs,” said Yin Jin, a handler with the Hechuan Public Security Bureau’s police dog brigade in Chongqing, as quoted by Chinese prosecutors. affiliated English newspaper Global Times.

“Our self-developed training system can be applied to the training of various animals,” Yin added.

The newspaper noted that unlike drug dogs, squirrels “are small and agile, which makes them good at scouring high places for drugs.”

According to insiders, “China’s drug-sniffing squirrels may well be the first of their kind,” although “animals and insects other than dogs have also been used to detect dangerous substances like explosives.”

“In 2002, the Pentagon supported a project that used bees to detect bombs. Meanwhile, Cambodia has used trained rats to help bomb squads scour minefields for buried explosives,” the insider said. “It’s unclear if the Chongqing police intend to expand their squad of drug-sniffing squirrels. It is also unclear how often the squirrel troop will be used.”

China is known for its strict and punitive anti-drug laws.

According to the Health and Human Rights Journal publication, “Drug Use [in China] is an administrative offense and not a criminal offence; However, persons detained by public safety authorities are subject to coercive or coercive treatment.”

The Journal explains: “This approach has been widely condemned, including repeated calls by United Nations (UN) agencies, UN human rights experts and human rights organizations over the past decade for the country to close compulsory drug detention centers and increase the number of voluntary , Community-based alternatives. Nonetheless, between 2012 and 2018, the number of people in compulsory drug prisons in China remained virtually unchanged, and the number of people registering for compulsory community-based treatment rose sharply.”

“In addition to these approaches, the government enters all individuals arrested by public security agencies for drug use in China into a system called the Drug User Internet Dynamic Control and Early Warning System, or Dynamic Control System (DCS),” the magazine continues. “This is a reporting and monitoring system introduced by the Ministry of Public Security in 2006. Individuals are included in the system regardless of whether they are addicted to drugs or in criminal or administrative detention; Some individuals who may be stopped by public safety but are not formally detained may also be included in the DCS.

The dynamic control system “acts as an extension of China’s drug control efforts by monitoring the movement of people in the system and alerting the police when individuals use their identification documents, for example, when checking into a hotel, conducting business at a government office or a bank , registering a mobile phone, applying for college education, or traveling,” the magazine says.