Cumbria Constabulary Police Dog Section comprises twelve operational police dog handling teams, one full time instructor and a supervisory sergeant.
Each handler works with a general-purpose dog; nine also work with drug detection dogs and four, explosives detection dogs. Each dog lives with its handler, within the area they work, but central kennels are available for times when the hander is sick, on holiday or otherwise not available.
Two kennel staff care for the dogs in kennels. Although the administration of the section is applied centrally, through the Uniform Operations Support Department, the handlers are split into three geographical areas (North, West and South) of four each.
The core business of the dog section is:
- General Purpose Dogs
- Searching for people (vulnerable missing persons and suspects)
- Searching for property at scenes of crimes
- Tracking people
- Dealing with public disorder
- Specialist Dogs
- Drug and weapon recovery
- Explosives search
- Firearms support
Select here to see Police Dogs Dexter and Bailey's story from pups to fully trained Police Dogs & what they've been up to recently.
Handlers
Handlers are experienced police officers, assessed and chosen for their ability to train and work with dogs. They must be of above average physical fitness and be prepared to devote many hours to the care of their dog.
Training
The dogs are trained by directing their natural instincts in ways that they find rewarding, using good communication skills and positive reinforcement.
General Purpose Dogs
Our general purpose police dogs are German Shepherds and Malinois chosen for their natural abilities.Bought from specialist breeders or acquired from members of the public. They must be highly active, have a strong desire to retrieve, and be confident in all environments.
Most of our requirements for replacement dogs can be met by projecting vacancies and buying pups, but, as this involves looking twelve to eighteen months into the future, occasionally a dog becomes ill or injured before its projected retirement date and we are forced to retire it immediately. When this happens, rather than carry a vacancy, we accept dogs donated by members of the public. These are usually dogs that have a high drive to work and are far too active for the average pet environment.
Specialist Dogs
Firearms Support Dogs are general purpose police dogs that have extra training to work in conjunction with firearms teams.
Drug/weapon Detection Dogs and Explosives Search Dogs are usually Spaniels, Labradors and other gun dog breeds specially bred to use their nose, although occasionally a border collie or dog of mixed breed has the right qualities. We currently have two rescue dogs working in drug detection.
Specialist dogs tend to retire later than the general purpose ones (ten years old as opposed to eight),and as we are not in a position to breed our own we rely on dogs donated by members of the public.
Specialist Search Dog Selection
It can be difficult to tell the amount of drive inherited by a gundog until it is past the puppy stage, and often people buy puppies that turn out to be nightmare pets, but wonderful workers. These are the dogs that, at twelve to eighteen months old, we can turn into excellent police search dogs.
If you know of a Spaniel or Labrador type that has lots of confidence and likes to chase anything that moves, and that is making life a nightmare for its owners, we can give that dog an outlet for its energies so it lives a fulfilled life rather than a constantly frustrated one.