Santa Paws has come to town: PD Titan is Force’s newest recruit

Christmas has come early for puppy-lovers with the arrival of PD Titan – Northamptonshire Police’s newest four-legged recruit.

PD Titan is a ten-week-old German Shepherd and is part of the Force’s Run-On Programme.

The Run-On Programme ensures that the Force has dogs available for the Dog Unit when existing dogs retire. It will see young dogs placed with an officer in the Learning and Development Team who will train them ready to be brought into the Unit when they’re old enough.

PD Titan is the first of these dogs and is being raised and trained by PC Steve Thorpe.

Inspector Paul Cumbers, said: “There are a number of benefits of the Run-On Programme and these include a reduced handover time, reduced costs, and increased confidence in the origin of the dog and the standard of handling and training.

“It ensures that the dogs are imprinted with all the correct training, socialised and exposed to all the necessary environments from a very early age. This gives the Force the best chance at success for them to become fully operational when they are old enough.

“PD Titan is the first of these dogs with another one planned for February 2023.”

PC Steve Thorpe, said: “Titan has started life off very well – he is loving training and has adapted really well to living with a family. I am very confident for his future at Northamptonshire Police.”