Meet Qld Police’s newest (canine) officers!
They may seem like family pets but Bertie the springer spaniel, Larry the Labrador and Prue the German shepherd are working dogs – and not just any working dogs, they’re PDs. That’s Police Dogs to you.
Today these three will be officially sworn in as Human Remains Detection Specialist dogs, also known as cadaver dogs, at the Queensland Police Service Academy at Oxley.
"It's a bit like when you graduate from a recruit to become a police officer," Bertie's handler, Sergeant Sean Baxendell, told ABC.
"Recruits get their badges and their ID cards and registration numbers. It's the same thing with police dogs — they get their official medallion and they all receive a police identification number as well."
In Australia, Queensland and New South Wales are the only states to have cadaver dogs. After today, the Queensland Police Service Academy will have 68 general-purpose dogs, five explosive ordinance response team dogs, 11 drug detection dogs, and four cadaver dogs.
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