Dorset Police digital dogs celebrate anniversary

Dorset Police is celebrating the one-year anniversary of the digital detection dogs helping to solve crime across the county.

Having gone through training to become licensed, in December 2023 the Force began to use operational digital detection dogs.

Since then, the dogs – labrador Harrison and springer spaniel Wilma – have been involved in many investigations and assisted teams across the organisation.

Both dogs are specially trained to search and locate digital devices that may not be obvious to spot to the human eye.

The initial training takes around six weeks to complete before the dogs become operational and begin providing assistance to officers and staff searching for evidence.

Inspector Dave Kewley, of Dorset Police, said: “With the digital world constantly advancing, it is imperative that we keep up-to-speed and modernise the way we can use the skills of our canine colleagues to assist with all types of crime detection."

“Dogs search in a completely unique way and use their incredible sense of smell to identify items, which can seem unbelievable and impossible to human noses."

“Using a digital detection dog can really help to save the amount of time that is spent searching a particular location. The dog’s powerful sense of smell can identify an object in seconds, whereas it may take a trained search officer a lot longer despite their best efforts."

“We are really proud of the work that PD Harrison and PD Wilma have been involved with so far in their first year.”

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