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Finnish ‘hero dogs’ help with security at Paris Olympics | Yle News

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Finnish ‘hero dogs’ help with security at Paris Olympics | Yle News

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Last year, a Finnish police dog helped search for a missing child in the snow, and now it is assisting French authorities and organizers during the Olympics.

Senior police officer Mika Lekkerimäki and police dog Nalli at the Paris Olympics.

Senior police officer Mika Lekkerimäki with police dog Nalli at the Paris Olympics. Nalli made headlines in Finland last year when he found a missing child. Photo: Roope Visuri / Yle

Security measures have been stepped up ahead of the opening of the Paris Summer Olympics.

Up to 45,000 police officers and 18,000 soldiers are tasked with guarding the event and the city, along with two police dogs and dog handlers from Finland.

These dogs are called detonator and Quattroand Senior Sergeant Mika Lekrimaki and Senior Police Officers Heikki Niemannarrived in Paris on July 11 after three days of long-distance bus travel.

Police dog Nali is already familiar to the public. Last winter, the dog was treated as a police dog, which attracted widespread attention. Establishment A boy who was frozen unconscious was lying in a snowdrift. At that time, Nalli was called a hero dog by many media.

Since arriving in France, police dogs and handlers from the Finnish police have been representing the country on the streets of Paris, assisting local police and organizers with any tasks required.

Nalli and Quattro are special explosive detection dogs, meaning they are trained to search for explosives in various locations.

Senior Constable Heikki Nyman and police dog Quattro at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Photo: Roope Visuri / Yle

Dog days of summer

Their work schedule has formed a certain routine.

“The local police told us where to go. A local policeman came from his residence to pick up the convoy. We were escorted to our destination. The past six days have been busy,” Lekerimaki said.

Nalli is a seven-year-old Labrador retriever who usually works at Helsinki Airport, and Quattro is a seven-year-old Belgian shepherd who usually works at the Eastern Finland Police Station in Mikkeli.

“The destinations vary a lot. That’s the biggest difference. Another one is the temperature. It can be very hot during the day. You have to be creative and think about how to cope with that. But there are a lot of dogs here from all over the world, so we can cope well,” Lekrimaki told Yle.

On the eve of the Olympics, temperatures in Paris remained above 30 degrees Celsius.

Lekerimaki said he understood why there was a large police presence at the Olympics because it was an annual global event.

More than 2,000 foreign police officers from more than 40 countries will participate in the security operations of the Paris Olympics.

France specifically requested that Finland send two explosive detection dogs to the Olympics. The Finnish team has been working with their Austrian colleagues.

“It was a great experience,” Lekerimaki told Yle.

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