'Strong bond, dangerous situations and amazingly agile': Here's what it's like to work with a Humberside Police Dog

Police dogs have been on the frontline since 1908 in the UK and play a vital role in helping the police serve the community.

They help to catch criminals, locate missing people, and can sniff out drugs, cash and firearms including digital equipment.

PC Laura Delaney, a dog handler at Humberside Police, wanted to be a dog handler from a very young age. Her clever canine is Police Dog (PD) Gas, who is a general purpose police dog.

PC Delaney said: “Gas is my two-year old Czech Shepherd police dog, and he has a broad range of skills. He can respond to calls for assistance ranging from the recovery of stolen property, burglaries, tracking offenders and the containment of serious crime scenes.

“He can also help with missing people, crowd control and arrest attempts or violent incidents.

“Whilst he’s one of our bigger police dogs, he’s still amazingly agile and can move super-fast to detain suspects. He can definitely run quicker than me.

“He’s a great asset, and we are more than happy to help our units. Officers must lockdown the scenes, put on surrounds and stay out of the area before we get there to give the police dogs a sterile area to work in. This reduces the scents and makes it easier for them to focus.”

The pair have been in a couple of tricky situations as part of the Humberside Police force. PC Delaney explained: “Gas found burglars hidden in undergrowth and when challenged they tried to make a run for it, but he detained them. One of the suspects managed to drag him into water waist deep, but Gas didn’t let go, even in the water, until we could reach him and arrest him.

Another incident occurred when an officer suspected a driver to be under the influence but the driver resisted arrest, attempted to hit an officer, snatching his car keys and tried to flee.

PC Delaney said: “The officer attempted to detain the man, including being tasered twice, but the suspect ran into a field waist high with crops. PD Gas tracked him in the field, through tricky conditions then detained him (through biting and holding) so we could arrest him.

When off duty, PD Gas lives at home with PC Delaney and her four other dogs.

PC Delaney said: “We go for long walks and play together in the garden. If we are doing training, we make it fun for him. He’s always full of beans and has bags of energy and wants to please.

“I love him to bits. We’ve been working together for a year but we’ve such a strong bond – which we need when we go as back up in dangerous situations.

“I love everything about my job and I’m passionate about being a dog handler in our section. There’s no better feeling than being with my dog on shift. I feel safer with him by my side and so do my team.

"Gas is a well loved and respected member of the team who even has gravy bones in the tea fund cupboard.”