Behind the scenes with Wiltshire Police dog unit
We've been seeing two new drugs dogs in their final week of training
Last updated 22nd May 2024
Greatest Hits Radio's been behind the scenes with the Dog Unit at Wiltshire Police to join two of their newest Police Dogs in the final week of their training.
We've been meeting PD's Merlin and Reggie who have been trained to help officers find hidden drugs.
The training course, led by PC Neil Parsons, puts the dogs through their paces by hiding common drugs such as cocaine and methamphetamine, as well as cash and firearms, in large spaces, with the dogs tasked with sniffing out their targets.
PC Parsons told us the force uses positive reinforcement with its recruits.
"I think all dog training is disciplined, ours is obviously for a special purpose," he said, adding: "It's positive reinforcement with it all the training, so they'll just get the ball when they've found anything."
PC Parsons said Dogs are vital to work the force does to tackle crime.
"Most inquisite crime is cash, firearms and drugs. We've got gangs that use those things obviously to make money and make people's lives a misery. So we need these dogs to go and find the stuff and take them out of circulation," he said.
The dogs are able to find in seconds items that it could take a human hours to find, with the first hide being located in the frame of a metal unit in less than 10 seconds by PD Merlin.
And with four hides to locate, both PD Merlin and PD Reggie were able to locate all four in less than five minutes. They were required to get as close as possible to the drugs and cash hidden in the post room, without touching them.
Once PC Parsons confirmed the find with a clicker, the dogs were rewarded with some play time with a ball, emphasizing the positive reinforcement of training, before moving onto the next hide.
In 2023, Police Dogs were involved in around 1,200 incidents, underpinning their value to the force.
The dog unit is made up of 10 handlers, with 13 General Purpose dogs.
These tend to be German Shephard breeds and five of the 13 are fire arms support dogs.
There are five drugs dogs, who will sniff out hidden substances, two digital detection dogs who search out items like hidden USB sticks and two dogs who can seek out explosives.
'Phenomenal' Dogs
We asked dog handlers Leanne Kavanagh and Emma Rice about the most impressive thing they've seen a police dog do.
Emma said: "Almost daily you hear really amazing things. Our Sergeant and his dog Bracken found some drugs in a car which officers had searched two teams of officers had searched and the and the dog was able to find them in a really secure hidden place in a very quick time and it's just outstanding."
The drugs had been hidden in the fuse box of the vehicle, with PD Bracken locating the drugs in seconds.
Leanne said: "The Sergeant also had somebody that made off that was wanted. He ran off, the drone was up , he hid in a shed. No one could find him.
"The dog was there and found him within minutes."
These two examples underscore the important role the dogs play in policing Wiltshire, Leanne adding the dogs are 'worth their weight in gold'.
Emma told us it's a privilege to be working with the dogs.
"The bond we build with them is amazing," she said, adding: "We're really fortunate to do our role because we get to go out with our dog, which we've trained from the start."
It's helped the team achieve some amazing results, and makes Wiltshire a safer place for us to live and work.