Police dog cuts ‘are barking mad’

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Police dog cuts ‘are barking mad’
By Ben Briggs

CUTS to the police dog handling unit will reduce the force's ability to tackle violent crime, according to an officer.

As reported in the Lancashire Telegraph this week, Lancashire Constabulary's dog handling unit is being reduced from 35 to 21 officers with up to 19 dogs being rehoused.

Police chiefs said the reduction was necessary so officers could be redeployed to more front line services such as protecting vulnerable people, counter terrorism and serious and organised crime.

But a dog handler who regularly works in Blackburn and Burnley said he and fellow handlers were already serving on the front line and a shortage of police dogs would reduce the force's capacity to deal with certain scenarios.

The handler, who asked not to be named, said the cuts were a "slap in the face" for dedicated officers who looked after their animals on a full time basis.

He said: "We are the only ones in the force who take our work home with us.

"Even on your days off you're walking them three times a day and yet they are saying they don't value them.

"We have always been front line officers who work alongside normal officers and we respond to a lot of incidents involving violent confrontation.

"At the moment we try and have a dog in each major town in the county.

"The situation in future will be one dog covering the county at night so basically they'll only be able to respond to the town they're in. PCs in other towns just won't bother contacting the dog unit because they know they won't be there in time."

The dog handler claimed that an incident in Blackburn last weekend highlighted the vital role that police dogs played in breaking up violent disturbances.

He added: "The incident recently at the Jubilee pub in Blackburn in which 20 people were fighting outside is what police dogs and handlers are there for and can split them up immediately.

"A dog can replace 10 normal officers because if they go at a group the people think twice if they think they are going to be tackled by a dog.

The dog unit will be cut to 21 posts but has been operating at 10 officers under capacity for some time. Two officers have already applied to leave the unit voluntarily and the officer said bosses had informed them that if they applied for redeployment early it would to a station of their choice.