Gwent Police welcome two new general purpose dogs to their dog section

Two new dogs have recently passed their introductory police dog training with Gwent Police.

PDs Maui (German Shepherd) and Woody (Belgian Shepherd) will join the force’s 25-strong dog section, and work with their handlers to protect and reassure Gwent communities.

Their 12-week training course developed the dogs’ natural ability to track, search for people, search for articles of property and detain criminals.

As “general purpose” dogs, they and their handlers can now be deployed to track and locate missing or vulnerable people and detect and prevent crime.

Following their “passing out” presentation yesterday afternoon, where both handlers and dogs were congratulated by Assistant Chief Constable Ian Roberts, both dogs were presented with their unique collar numbers.

Back in 2019, Gwent Police started to issue new police dogs their own collar numbers – as recognition of the vital role they play in Gwent to protect communities and stamp out crime.

The decision to introduce collar numbers was taken following the passing of Finn’s Law in June 2019, an initiative which fought for greater legal protection for police dogs.

PC Gareth Thomas, who led the training for Gwent’s latest four-legged officers, said:

“It’s fantastic to welcome Maui and Woody to the team.

“The dogs, and their handlers, have worked incredibly hard over the last few months in order to successfully achieve the required national standard to become a licensed police dog.

“Our dogs play an instrumental role in a variety of policing work and are a valuable asset.

“Maui and Woody will now join their handlers on shift and are eager to provide operational support in order to serve the communities of Gwent.”

For more news on the force’s dog section, visit https://www.gwent.police.uk/police-forces/gwent-police/areas/about-us/about-us/meet-our-police-dogs/.