Praise for police dog who found high risk missing person in Hindhead
The person was found unharmed in the woods.
Finding high risk missing people is all in a day’s work for police dog Panza.
In the early hours of Wednesday (2 September), dog handler PC McBrown was called to help find a high risk missing person in the grounds of a nursing home in Churt Road, Hindhead.
The person had severe autism and a disability meaning he could not walk very far without a frame.
Staff from the nursing home and police officers had been out searching with no success as the home is "surrounded by countryside making it hard to tell in which direction he may have gone", according to Surrey Police.
PC McBrown said:
"Considering the circumstances I felt there was little chance of identifying a track and I believed the only assistance I could offer was to conduct a more accurate search of the grounds.
"I was confident that it was safe to let Panza conduct an open land search.
"I sent Panza the ‘find him’ command and he ran directly into the bushes ahead of me.
"I could tell by his demeanour that he was on to something and I followed him into the woods."
They found Panza stood over the missing person, who was lying on the ground under a blanket.
Surrey Police said he was "unharmed and thrilled to see the dog".