It appears Rudolf the red-nosed reindeer has been given a shot at alternative employment.

Russian authorities are considering installing a ‘reindeer police force’ to help combat crime in Russia’s frozen Arctic tundra region in the far north of the country, according to media reports.

Police sources told the Izvestia newspaper that reindeer are uniquely equipped to fight petty crime in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug area, which is home to Siberia’s indigenous peoples.

The region is remote and some places are only accessible on reindeer-back, making it difficult to chase down suspects, a police official said. They also have problems bringing people back to the police station.



The force currently uses snowmobiles which tend to break down or run out of gas, the official added. “Of course we have snowmobiles in service, but one should understand that a machine is a machine,” Irina Pimkina from the region’s Interior Ministry told the paper, according to the BBC.

Interfax report that during the first half of 2014, 163 crimes were reported in the Yamalsky municipality of Yamalo-Nenets in western Siberia, including drunken fights, robberies and hooliganism. Local police say the figures are typical across the district.

The police have been asking for reindeers since 2012, but they haven’t yet been deployed to maintain public order.

Russia’s armed forces are no stranger to using animals in the course of their work. The navy uses ‘combat dolphins’ to help locate underwater mines, and the country’s mountain troops use 150 sure-footed mules and donkeys for their patrols.