Good Morning

A bit of positive news to start the day!!!

Furry well deserved recognition for some of our amazing Police Dogs and Handlers 🐾

 Last weekend North Yorkshire Police attended the National Police Dog Awards hosted by West Midlands Police. 

 We're incredibly proud to say that two of our canine crimefighters and their handlers won two of the categories 👏

 After a tough judging process of 49 nominations from 23 different police forces PD Rhun and his handler, PC Josh Hunsley won General Purpose Dog of the Year and PD Jax and his handler, PC Claire Starkey won Detection Dog of the Year. 

This is the first time NYP has won such awards and at a national scale is something not to be sniffed at… pardon the pun. 

In November 2024, PD Rhun and PC Hunsley were deployed to reports of a high value burglary near Barton-le-Willows. The suspects, who fled the scene in a HGV and then abandoned it in the live lane of the A64, ran off into undergrowth not far from Bilbrough Top. 

PD Rhun and PC Hunsley made their way to the last known location of the offenders. Showing determination and incredible sniffing skills, over an hour and 40 minutes later, and tracking a distance of over four and a half miles, PD Rhun found both suspects hiding in a haystack. 

The judges commented on PD Rhun's determination and perseverance over rough and difficult terrain, something which they thought should be commended - and we couldn't agree more!

 PD Jax is one of our Digital Evidence Detection Dogs handled by PC Claire Starkey. As part of his role, Jax is trained to find tracking devices. Last year, whilst on duty, his handler PC Starkey was made aware of an incident involving a victim of high-risk domestic abuse who had some strange notifications on her phone while she was driving. Due to her concerns, local officers contacted PC Starkey for some advice. PD Jax searched the vehicle and located an unknown tracking device, well-hidden on the outside of the vehicle. Without the nose of Jax, this device would have been impossible to locate. Since this, Jax has been amazing in locating other similar devices during incidents. 

 Without the dogs, officers wouldn’t have stood a chance in catching the suspects responsible in these two incidents.

 We can't thank you enough, Jax and Rhun for your dedication and your integral role to keeping the people of North Yorkshire safe! 💙

 Thanks must also go to their amazing handlers and everyone in our Dogs Section - they do phenomenal work, day in and day out, and we don’t know what we’d do without them!