A police dog tackles an instructor at the new police dog base in Lishui. [Photo/lsnews.com.cn]

The new police dog center for the Lishui Municipal Public Security Bureau – located in Lishui city, East China's Zhejiang province – officially started operations on April 16, according to local media reports.

The facility, occupying a 2.87 hectares site, cost more than 60 million yuan ($9.23 million). The base includes an office area, a experimental area, a feeding area, a training ground and other professional support facilities.

The Lishui Municipal Public Security Bureau has plans to fully utilize the facilities of the new base and actively explore new technical applications of police dogs, as well as training police dog handlers.

The bureau currently has 17 police dog handlers and 27 police dogs of all kinds, mainly public security patrol dogs and criminal investigation dogs.

The city's police dogs have performed more than 1,800 patrol and security tasks since last year, playing an important role in 29 criminal cases.