New recruits to sniff out crime

Saturday 16 January 2016

Jersey police have two new recruits in training to sniff out illegal drugs, money and firearms for them.

The two English Springer Spaniels called Meg and Jack are on a six-week course in the UK where they are learning to pick up the scent of certain drugs.

Meg (pictured above) who's 18-months-old has been paired with handler PC Richie Vinen who also works with his four-legged friend Achilles and 17-month-old Jack is working with PC Dave Bisson who also has Turbo.

Head of the Community Policing Team Inspector Andy Bisson said: “Following an island-wide drugs review last year it was determined that the issue of drugs needed to be tackled by a large number of people and agencies to ensure we take hold of the problem for the future.

“To play our part in that we wanted to strengthen our drugs detection capability and the dogs will be a key part of that. They can search a house in a fraction of the time it takes a police officer to do it.”

The dogs who's parents are working dogs have been bred to be police dogs and have been picking up basic commands and sniffing techniques since they were born.

They are learning to respond in a passive, non-aggressive way to make sure they pick up smells without causing damage to personal or business property.