SLEDGE PATROL-- JULY 28, 2003

I have been invited to visit Daneborg, the headquarters for the Sirius Sledge Patrol, one of the most unusual police forces in the world. As usual in northern Greenland, my transport is by Twin Otter airplane. My pilot has been flying Twin Otters in Greenland for 26 years, a comforting fact since every time I land on the rough gravel clearings that pass as landing strips here I expect the plane to cartwheel into tundra.

At the runway I am met by Birger Bjerregaard, who has command Daneborg for the last year. Before that, he was a patrolman for two years. Birger explains that the Sledge Patrol has a long and distinguished history on the northeast coast of Greenland. The tradition began in 1933 when an international trial in The Hague upheld Denmark's sovereignty over northeast Greenland. In order secure its claim, Demark created a police force, operating by sled dog. During World War II, the police became a branch of the military, protecting the coast from German incursions. The Germans desperately wanted to build a weather station in northeast Greenland because Greenland weather information is essential for forecasting Western Europe conditions. The Germans did build a several stations, but each time they were discovered and evicted, twice with American assistance. After WWII, the force was given renewed life by the Cold War. Today, there is no military necessity to protect the coast, but now the Sledge Patrol serves as a ranger service for the National Park

In this day and age of high-tech law-enforcement hardware, it is hard to believe that there is a police force anywhere in the world that uses equipment so simple and antiquated as the Sledge Patrol. But the truth is, if you want to travel in northeast Greenland in the winter, sled dogs and rugged wooden sleds are still the best way to do it.


Bright and early the morning after I arrive, Allan Broholm Pedersen and Christian Holm Andersen invite me to accompany them to exercise their dogs. Each team is assigned a color, and theirs is yellow. The six Sirius teams also each have a number, though there is no number six, in deference to "team six" that died of exposure during a terrible storm in the 1960s. The dogs are harnessed in order, starting with Buller, the lead dog at the very front.

At this time of year there is little snow at sea level where the Sledge Patrol is based. To my surprise, however, the teams put their dogs through their paces nonetheless. With me on the sled and the two patrolman running alongside, we take off across the wet tundra. Unbelievably they drive right over boulders bigger than basketballs and leap across three-foot-wide cracks in the ground. Within several minutes my astonishment is replaced with fear, as it seems that at any moment the sled will roll over. Amazingly, however, I remain upright.

After a hour-long workout, we return to base. I'm bruised from hugging the sled's handles. The patrolmen are sweating from the intense exercise. It's time for breakfast.




Sirius - The Sledge Patrol
Greenland is protected by a team of law enforcement officers that drive sleds instead of cars. See photos of the team in action and the dogs that make their travel possible.



THE FLIGHT TO GREENLAND

ARRIVAL

ANTICIPATION

THE DRILLING SITE

STRIKING BOTTOM

TASIILAQ - GREENLAND VILLAGE

GREENLAND TO GREENLAND, VIA ICELAND

SLEDGE PATROL

NEW DIGS


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