“ I was about to pull the pin, because the area was too dense, but something came over me. I let Lucas off the leash and within two minutes he found the offender hiding in a wombat hole.” Eleven additional police handlers and their dogs have been trained to track criminals and locate missing people as part of Victoria Police's Dog Squad. A man flees from his car following a high speed collision in Clarkefield leaving behind the female passenger with serious injuries. Victoria Police Dog Squad handler Leading Senior Constable Steve Gray and his dog track across a paddock and creek, finding the man under thick bush. He is unconscious with serious head injuries and, if he hadn’t been located by the dog, may have died. The injured man had stolen jewellery and cash on him. On the other side of town, Leading Senior Constable Michael Collins and his dog Flynn are first on the scene of an aggravated burglary in Footscray. The offender assaulted a man and was on the run. They track the offender, who has a knife, some distance away hiding in the yard of a house. He is quickly taken into custody without incident. Formed in 1975, the Dog Squad comprises 57 specially-trained staff who support police across the state and specialist police units such as Search and Rescue. The Dog Squad’s Acting Senior Sergeant Mark Boysen said a police dog’s ability to track people and detect narcotics, explosives or property, while getting into places a police officer cannot access, was crucial to police operations. “The dogs have assisted police in thousands of cases contributing to the arrest and location of numerous offenders,” he said. “We ensure Victoria Police continues to fight crime by attending incidents including sieges, burglaries, public demonstrations, sport or music events, searches for missing persons or fugitives and drug-related cases.” A/Sen Sgt Boysen said it was integral for police to be motivated and form a strong bond with their dogs. “Officers need to trust their dog, have good sound judgement and work well under pressure,” he said.
The Dog Squad’s Leading Senior Constable Kyle Burton said without a strong bond it would be hard to achieve results. “Every time the dog goes to work all he wants to do is impress you and make you happy. I’ve got a lot of friends, but he’s only got one and that’s me.” Ldg Sen Const Burton recalled the time his dog Lucas caught a bank robber hiding in a wombat hole. “I went to a job in a remote town where there were sightings of a bank robber who’d escaped police in New South Wales. I flew there in a helicopter and landed close to a thick swamp along a river,” he said. “I was about to pull the pin, because the area was too dense, but something came over me. I let Lucas off the leash and within two minutes he found the offender hiding in a wombat hole.”
The squad will soon move in with the Mounted Branch to its new state-of-the-art home at Attwood. The large facility provides modern kennelling and a purpose-built whelping area, which allows police to breed and develop more police dogs. A/Sen Sgt Boysen said working at the Dog Squad was very satisfying. “It’s a huge adrenaline rush to track and locate an offender with the dog. You cannot beat working with a dog and getting a great result,” he said. Ldg Sen Const Burton agreed. “It’s fantastic and extremely rewarding to have the freedom to work with the dog and be a team together, successfully catching crooks.”
Ldg Sen Const Burton said in most situations the dogs go unharmed, but Lucas had been injured before. “One time, chasing an offender, Lucas got caught in a chain wire fence. While attempting to jump over the fence, his paw got caught. Luckily I was right behind him to lift him off,” he said. A/Sen Sgt Boysen said police and the dogs go through intensive training to become highly skilled in their duties. “While we invest a lot of effort training the dog to be the best it can be, not all dogs graduate as police dogs,” he said. “They undergo obedience and socialisation assessments and are taken care of by a puppy walker for a few months. At 12 months, the puppy is joined with its handler where more training is conducted. This period is the most crucial and identifies if the dog will make it as a police dog.” Once confirmed as a police dog, the dog lives at its handlers home and they continue to train, care for and work with the dog. With the recent allocation of 11 new police and dogs, Dog Squad officers will continue to sink their teeth into fighting and preventing crime, such as tackling the drug ice and locating offenders.
DID YOU KNOW • P olice work closely with German Shepherds when they are searching for an offender or missing person. Known as general purpose dogs, they alert their handler by barking when they locate the person. • Police also work with Labradors, known as specialist dogs, to detect drugs and explosives. They also conduct high risk searches of locations and venues for explosive materials prior to a VIP or protected person visit, or when executing warrants. All specialist dogs are passive, which means they sit at the source of an odour. • Police dogs work for about nine years before going to their handler's home where they spend their retirement. Image Dog Squad 01 L eading Senior Constable Adam Canteri
and his dog Kaos on the trail of an offender. Editorial: Mandi Santic Photography: Andrew Henshaw POLICE LIFE | SUMMER 2016
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