It was yet another busy year for Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary’s Dog Support Unit, which has helped to sniff out hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of drugs and weapons.
From tracking down criminals and unearthing key evidence for solving crimes, to helping reach vulnerable people in need and policing events on the global stage, the 4-legged crimefighters and their handlers are always ready for action.
As a new year begins, the force has reflected on a number of stand-out achievements from 2024, which have helped to ensure communities are safer in 2025.
Since April last year, the dogs and their handlers have recovered almost £28,000 in cash and more than £405,000 worth of drugs. They have located a number of weapons, including 2 machetes, 6 knives, a sword, a set of nunchucks, 2 hammers, 3 firearms and 200 shotgun shells.
On 30th October, former Isle of Wight-based Police Constable Kelly Bartle and Police Dog Major were called to assist with the search of a vehicle on Wellington Avenue, Aldershot. PD Major located 19 grip seal bags containing suspected cocaine.
The month before, on 12th September, PD Dexter and his handler PC Ellis Butler were tasked to attend a search of a property at the center of a raid in Rookley. During the search, they located a large amount of cannabis, suspected Class A drugs and a substantial amount of cash, as first reported by Island Echo.
Another area in which the dogs are vital at helping to keep our communities safe is helping to track down offenders who have fled the scene of a crime.
On 28th September, PC Lance Plummer and Police Dog Blaze were called into action to help find the rider of a motorbike which had failed to stop for police in Southampton. PD Blaze tracked the scent across a large, open park and despite the man’s efforts to evade officers, PD Blaze kept on the chase until he was safely detained.
Not to be outdone by PD Blaze, on 30th October, Sergeant Richard Taylor and Police Dog Hugo attended the scene of a burglary in Ringwood. A convenience store had been burgled and the offenders had run from the scene. It was only thanks to the expert nose of PD Hugo that led officers to someone hiding in the back garden of a nearby house.
It isn’t just crime-fighting that these specialist hounds are deployed to, though. With their unmatched talent for tracking, they have helped save the lives of many vulnerable people and since April they have located 10 people reported missing.
But when they aren’t chasing down criminals, sniffing out drugs or helping the vulnerable, these dogs are deployed to national and international events, working on the world stage to help ensure a safe and enjoyable experience for all involved.
In June, they played an integral part in helping ensure the safety of thousands of people attending the D-Day 80 commemorative event in Portsmouth by carrying out searches of the event site in the lead up to the historic event. They, along with their dog handlers, made it possible for our brave veterans to remember their fallen colleagues, alongside His Majesty the King, close to the spot where so many set sail from in 1944.
Then, in August, dog handlers PC Paul Shutler and PC Dan Attwood were travelled to Paris, accompanied by their explosive search dogs PD Cody and PD Arlo, to help with the international policing operation around the 2024 Paralympic Games.
Tim Lawrence, Dog Unit instructor, said:
“As you can see from just these few examples, our specialist unit is ready for whatever is needed from them.
“The dog unit consists of various disciplines, starting off with general purpose dogs, then we have firearms support dogs, specialist search with two different kinds of drugs dogs. We also have data dogs which are taught to find digital equipment like phones and sim cards, explosive search dogs and victim recovery dogs. They are vitally important to all of those specialist search areas.
“It’s really rewarding to be part of their training. We put a lot of time and effort into training these dogs and when we get the results that come through it’s brilliant to see that the dogs are doing what they’re trained to do and how they benefit the constabulary and our communities.”
Well done, we could do with Police dogs to sniff out
Speeding motorists.
Yet another pointless and daft comment