Local Police To Get Dogs

German shepherd police dogs trained to track, search buildings and control crowds will be used in Cambridge for the first time this Fall, Capt. John Grainger, acting chief of police in Cambridge, said yesterday.

There are no specific plans to use any of the dogs--probably as many as five in all-around Radcliffe, Grainger explained. But there is a possibility, he added, "there will be a patrol car with a dog up there once the dogs are trained."

Grainger said that dogs were "very effective" for flushing burglers out of large buildings and would most likely be used to patrol the warehouses in the Kendall Square section of East Cambridge.

Capt. George Walsh, acting chief of the University Police, said recently he did not think any dogs would be assigned to either Harvard or Radcliffe.

The Cambridge City Council appropriated $10,600 to finance the training of the dogs, and to pay $50 a week extra to each patrolman working with a dog.

Using police dogs in Cambridge is part of a larger plan to beef up local police forces around Boston. Newton started using dogs last year, and both Quincy and Burlington will get them this Fall. Boston Police have used dogs for the past five years.