Land and disused premises sought by Northamptonshire Police Dog Section for training purposes

Northamptonshire Police’s Dog Section is appealing for support from businesses or members of the public who may be able to provide training grounds for their new intake of trainee police dogs and handlers.

The section is ideally looking for disused or empty commercial premises, such as a schools or large buildings, as well as large rural areas such as woodlands or fields not currently used for agricultural purposes.

These premises will provide valuable space for the Force’s general purpose and specialist search dogs to train alongside their handlers and equip themselves with the professional hands-on skills to fight crime and protect the people of Northamptonshire.

Sergeant Chris Monday, of the Force’s Dog Section, said: “It’s very important to keep the locations fresh and unfamiliar to our trainee dogs, which is why we are looking to expand our list of current available locations.

“We rely heavily on the kind support from the public to provide spaces for realistic training, to ensure we can train our police dogs and prepare them for real world, crime fighting situations.”

The Force’s Dog Section is set to increase by 50 per cent over the coming months - the largest growth of the team in recent years – as a result of investment from Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, Stephen Mold. This will mean increasing the team from 10 to 15 handlers, with each officer working alongside a general purpose and specialist search dog, and will see three dog units on duty at any one time across the county.

This means the Force will be able to utilise the unique crime fighting skills of the section’s handlers and dogs more frequently.

Anyone who may be able to assist in providing potential locations are invited to contact Sergeant Chris Monday via email: [email protected].

To find out more about the work of the Force’s Police Dog Section, you can follow them on Twitter via their handle @NorthantsDogs.