Police Unveil New Paws On Patrol

North Wales Police has welcomed two new dogs as part of the Force family – with Labrador Annie and German Shepherd Willis joining the Dog Section.

Nine-month-old Annie will work as a force scanning dog and will be trained to search for drugs on persons and free search for drugs whilst 4-year-old Willis will work as a General Purpose Dog.

Both Annie and Willis join the North Wales Police Dog Section which currently has a total of 20 – seventeen of which are operational with three undergoing training.

Annie’ handler, PC Nicholas Bedford has been a police officer with North Wales Police for just over 15 years and has been with the Dog Section for seven years. He currently has another working dog – a Belgian Malinois called Enzo.

Willis has been paired up with PC Gareth Wedley who also has nine-month-old Labrador puppy Otis who is currently undergoing training.

Sergeant Howard Watts from the Force Dog Section said: “Annie has literally been with us for two days so she’s still getting used to her new surroundings.

“As soon as she has settled in she’ll undergo some training and we will also introduce her to new environments and mix with different people. Early socialisation and introducing the dog to a wide range of people, animals and experiences is essential to ensure a sociable, well-adjusted and balanced dog which is suitable for police work.

“Willis has already done the bulk of his training but we will monitor his development. All of our dogs are highly skilled – duties include searching, tracking and offering support to colleagues in other areas of police work such as firearms.

“I’m looking forward to seeing what the next few years will bring with both dogs.”

The role of the Dog Section is to provide police dog and handler teams to support their colleagues across North Wales and to respond to emergency calls where their unique skills can be used to help make the region safer.

They are always on the look-out for new venues and different environments to train the dogs. Anybody who may be able to assist should contact the Dog Section via 101.