Sergeant Sione Puna’ivaha of the Tonga Police Detector Dog Unit, supported the New Zealand Police Pacific Detector Dog Programme (PDDP) to train six new detector dog handlers, in a 3-month course from 25 September to 25 November,  in Wellington, New Zealand.

The PDDP is a New Zealand Aid funded programme aimed at building detection capability of border agencies such as Customs and Police in the Pacific Island countries of Samoa, Cook Islands, Tonga, and Fiji.

The programme provides trained dogs and builds capacity in dog handling, leadership, related systems and processes, investigation and use of legal powers to enforce and prosecute intercepts of contraband such as illicit drugs.

Tonga Police reported that Sergeant Puna’ivaha has been with the Tonga Police Dog Detector Unit since 2014.

His involvement in the course was ackowledged by the PDDP Senior Project Officer, Fiona McPhail, who said: “Sergeant Puna’ivaha represented Tonga Police professionally and his experience was an asset to the course.”

Sergeant Puna’ivaha said: “Dog teams do an amazing job in helping keep our communities safe. Their ability to detect scent is approximately 5000 times that of humans. They are remarkable at what they do in detecting cash, firearms and narcotics. They undertake a range of equally important prevention and community engagement work alongside their everyday role,” he said.

Sergeant Puna’ivaha acknowledged the NZ Police and the PDDP for granting him the opportunity to be involved in the facilitation of the courses, which further builds his own capability as well as strengthening the important relationship between the Pacific border and enforcement agencies and the New Zealand Customs, said Tonga Police.

Border security dogs

Meanwhile, in February, joint efforts between Tonga Police and the Ministry of Revenue and Customs to enhance the Detector Dog capability at the Kingdom’s borders has successfully led to the selection of a first-ever dog handling trainee from Customs.  He successfully completed the course in early May and has been working alongside the existing Tonga Police Detector Dog Unit.

Tonga Police Commissioner, Shane McLennan said, “I wish to acknowledge the NZ Police and the PDDP for their strong and ongoing support in ensuring that Tonga’s border agencies are equipped with improved detection capability for enhanced national security and public safety.”