General Purpose Search Dogs

In search situations the police dog and handler team can help cover much larger areas more quickly than just an officer. They can detect human scent quite a few hundred yards away and get into bushes and woodland much more easily. This, with the handler’s skills to control the dog, means a handler and dog can search large areas more effectively and efficiently saving lots of police time. They can help look for missing people, offenders and evidence too. It might be a vital piece of evidence for a case and the dog can be crucial for finding that missing piece of the jigsaw.  

Tactical Firearms Support Dogs

These are very special dogs that have been highly trained to work with the firearms teams. There are only three dogs like this in Lancashire but they are being used almost every day to help armed officers in very difficult situations. These dogs are trained to use a special camera, which is attached to their heads and it sends a signal to a camera, so that the Firearms Commander can see inside a building where the subject may be hiding.

Cash Dogs

We have dogs that are trained to find large amounts of money that a criminal might have hidden. The dogs can find money that is hidden in buildings or gardens and of different quantities and denominations.    

Drug Detectors

We also have specialist handlers with drug detection dogs. The team can save a long search and may find drugs so well hidden which the officers might not be able to find themselves. The dogs use their highly developed sense of smell to find the drugs. They help officers when searching vehicles, buildings, and other open areas for all types of drugs.  

Explosives Dogs

A number of dogs are trained to detect explosive substances. They will search an area before the visit of important people like a member of the Royal Family or the Prime Minister and the visit is only allowed to go ahead if the dog handler says it is safe to do so. They will also search if the police receive a ‘bomb warning’ and then the handler has to wear a special suit to protect them in case of an explosion.

Victim Detection/Forensic Evidence Recovery Dogs

We also have dogs that detect the scent of human blood, human tissue, teeth, bones and other bodily fluids. These dogs are used to find crime scenes and bodies that may have been buried in shallow graves. They have such a god sense of smell that they can detect a small drop of blood on a street and they have been known to find blood on a freshly painted surface.