LAPD Metropolitan Division Commanding Officer Captain John Incontro K-9 Platoon Chief Trainer Sergeant Doug Roller and Jindo dog Dahan during a press conference at LAPD Headquarters. LAPD trainers flew to South Korea to pick out the puppies to test, train and evaluate for possible police use. (Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer)
The two newest recruits to the Los Angeles Police Department aren't very interested in doing police work.
Instead, they seem more interested in chasing a ball, wrestling, lolling in the grass and basking in the attention of bystanders charmed by their cuteness.
It's hard to picture that at 3 months and 2 months old, DaeHan and Mingook, two Jindo puppies recently gifted by the South Korean government to the LAPD, could one day be working dogs on par with the more intimidating German shepherd or Belgian Malinois that are the staples of police and military forces.
But LAPD is testing the hunting breed, which is designated as the 53rd national treasure of South Korea, for its ability to detect weapons or drugs and possibly even patrol, although their moderate sizes may make them better suited for search efforts rather than suspect takedowns.
"This is a brand-new experiment," said Capt. John Incontro, commanding officer of LAPD's Metropolitan Division, which includes the K-9 unit. "This is a brand-new opportunity for us to try and see what we can do to use a different breed that has different traits and hopefully, different abilities to allow us to get our mission done."
No other police agency has been known to use Jindos, so the dogs' trainers aren't sure what to expect from the pups, whose names combined mean "Republic of South Korea." What is known is that the dogs are intelligent, fiercely loyal, brave and have a strong prey drive.
"We're going to see if this works," said Sgt. Doug Roller, DaeHan's trainer.
"We're going to put our best foot forward and see if we can make some dogs out of them."
Which at this point, mostly involves seeing how interested the pups are in chasing a tennis ball on a string, an indication of how strong their hunting instincts are toward potential prey.
"In order for a dog to make it in the police department, especially in the detection world, we want a lot of what's called prey drive," Roller said.
"That means the dog really wants to go out and chase an item, whether it's a ball, or a rag, or whatever. We just keep building on that drive."
DaeHan and Mingook arrived in L.A. on Oct. 28 after Roller and Officer Jeff Miller picked them during a trip to Jindo Island, at the southwest tip of South Korea, to assess about 30 dogs. Another two pups, Hanmi, which means "U.S.-Korea," and Jin Kor, which means "Jindo dog from Korea," are slated to go to the Glendale Police Department within the next month.
But Glendale police typically train dogs only after they're more than a year old, and their trainers have not yet seen the dogs, so officials are cautious and will see how they work out with LAPD.
Jindos, which range in weight from 35 to 60 pounds, were brought to Korea by invading Mongolian armies in the 13th century and have mainly been used to hunt deer and boar.
They walked in the opening ceremonies of the 1988 Summer Olympic Games in Seoul and are considered "ambassadors to the Korean community," said Chang Lee, president of the Korean American Federation of Los Angeles, who facilitated the donation.
"There's so much pride in this dog," Lee said. "For them to give these dogs a try, it's Korean pride. We're hoping that they'll make it through so that they'll become official police dogs...which will put them on the worldwide scene."
