Did you know that the dog section is an essential part of Cumbria Constabulary, not only in fighting crime but also finding missing people and locating vital hidden evidence, in fact they are involved in all aspects of policing.
Cumbria Constabulary’s Dog Section is the focus of the seventh week of the Force’s ‘Did you know…’ campaign which was launched to provide an insight into the work that goes on in different departments behind the scenes to support frontline policing and keep people safe.
Did you know… that the Dog Section:
- Have 28 trained dogs who are fully trained in different aspects of police work
- There are 3 puppies which are currently undergoing training to become full time members of the team
- There are 14 police officers who are specially trained in being a dog handler and are each responsible for a minimum of two police dogs
- They found in excess of £2,000,000 worth of drugs in the last 12 months
- Been involved in the security for the Olympics
- Involved in every Royal or MP visit to Cumbria
- Did you know it takes 13 weeks to train a general purpose dog, who undergo additional training after that
- They are one of the few departments that take their work home with them, with the dogs living at the handlers homes.
Each breed is specialised in specific tasks and within Cumbria Constabulary there are a number of different breeds who are specialised in certain tasks to provide a broad range of skills and be diverse to help in all aspects of policing.
General purpose dogs who tend to be German Shepherds, Mallinois and a Dutch Herder cross are more involved in the apprehension of criminals, tracking offenders down to a location where they can be arrested, finding missing people and locating property.
The gun dog breads such as Spaniels, Labradors Pointers and even collies and flat coat collie cross are currently used by Cumbria Constabulary as specialised search dogs, who undergo four to eight weeks training and will be more involved in drug searches and looking for specific items linked to an offence. These dogs can work for longer and are usually about ten years old when they retire. Given this, they are usually not trained from pups but are obtained through donation from members of the public. However, they must have a high search drive to become one of the team.
The dogs are also essential in finding missing people, some of who can be in a distressed state and the quick action and location by the dogs have enabled lives to be saved.
PC Paddy Bainbridge said “There is a vast array of work done by the dogs and their owners, who have a strong bond with their dogs. It is a misconception that the police dogs are left in kennels when the police handlers go off shift, the dogs come home with us and are a part of our family.
“We undergo specialised training in order to work efficiently with the dogs and also to take care of them. The care and welfare of the dogs is a top priority, whether on or off duty, and each handler must have a very understanding family as no other qualified police dog handler can look after another handlers dog.
“Many people believe that the dog section is only involved in apprehending drug dealers or catching criminals who have run from the scene of a crime to evade arrest. However, this is not always the case and we assist our colleagues in fighting crime and recently have helped in getting bike thieves off the streets of Carlisle, after PC Cox and his dog Keria, a black German Shepherd caught six bike thieves after they were attempting to steal bicycles in the area and as a result it appears that the number of bike thefts in the area has decreased.”
Chief Inspector Kevin Greenhow, who oversees the department, said: “The dog section comes under Operational Support and provides vital support to police officers in a variety of ways.
“This is just one of the departments which supports operational policing and there will be an opportunity to see the other departments in due course. They involve essential and specialised skills which are required to deal with a variety of situations that may arise.
“The dog section can be asked to help in a search warrant, or searching people on the streets for drugs, or help to locate a missing person. The dogs can save a vast amount of time in being able to search an area quickly and effectively. They are also an essential part in tackling drug crime and have assisted in helping to recover over £2,000,000 worth of drugs in the last 12 months.”
Posters raising awareness of the work of the Constabulary are being distributed across police stations and in key places amongst communities such as libraries, doctors’ surgeries and leisure centres throughout the campaign.
The campaign will be extended onto the Constabulary’s social networking accounts with dedicated ‘tweetdays’ and webchats.
There is also more information about the dog section available at
www.cumbria.police.uk/puppiesupdate which includes videos of the puppies 6 months on.
There is also a dedicated facebook tab to Cumbria Constabulary police dogs at https://www.facebook.com/cumbriapolice and click on the dogs unit tab, which give you more videos and snippets from the Dog Section, which we are encouraging everyone to like.
You can also following them on twitter @policedogunit
No comments:
Post a Comment