Derrick, Thomson and Thompson, Magnum and Poirot are the newest recruits at a Dutch police department. These Rotterdam rats have been trained to keep the streets clean and are expected to save the police both time and money.
Police inspector Monique Hamerslag is in charge of the project, which is overseen by Mark Wiebes, head of the police innovation
centre. In a statement to AFP, Wiebes said, “As far as we know we’re the first in the world to train rats to be used in police investigations”.
Detective Derrick and his rat partners cost just £8 each and are capable of being trained to identify an impressive range of odours — including drugs and explosives — within ten to 15 days. In contrast, a police dog costs thousands of pounds and requires a minimum training period of eight months — via redwolf.newsvine.com
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