Meet the three new canine crime fighters hitting the streets of Harrogate

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Police Dogs PD Skye and PD Mason are the force’s newest recruits, having successfully completed their four-week initial course to become licensed ‘drugs, cash and firearms detection dogs’.

They join PD Barney who, having already been working as a ‘drugs and cash detection dog’ for six months, has successfully completed the final part of his licensing, meaning he is now also able to detect firearms.

Their training has taken four weeks, and involved going out and about to busy environments to meet people and other dogs.

They all passed with top marks and are now ready for action and will be out on the streets of North Yorkshire with their handlers

PD Skye is a one year-old Cocker Spaniel and joins PD Patto, living at home with their handler PC Fletcher.

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She is described as very bright and bouncy and her natural ability to search no matter what the environment was shown on her course when she visited training venues across the county and managed to detect everything so quickly no matter where it was hidden.

PD Mason is a two-year-old Cocker Spaniel and joins PD Mikka living at home with their handler PC Thorpe who joined the Dog Section in 2018.

PD Mason was gifted to the force by the Dogs Trust in Darlington in March 2018.

His natural ability to use his nose and his happy character mean he takes everything is his stride and is a highly dependable asset to the force.

Two year-old PD Barney, a Cocker Spaniel, joins PD Lynne living at home with their handler PC Burleigh.

He was also gifted to the force by the Dogs Trust in Darlington in February last year. He is known as an energetic, sweet young boy who is a joy to work with and his nose has already led him to many successful finds in his six month’s time with the force, including a haul of drugs hidden inside a computer.

Their siblings, Patto, Lynne and Mikka are all General Purpose Police Dogs which means they are multi-disciplined canines who are trained to work under a variety of conditions.

Their depth of skills includes; searching for missing people, tracking suspects from crime scenes and recovery of recently discarded articles of an evidential nature.

Instructor PC Martin Gayles, who is also a Dog Handler for the force with PD Buzz and PD Meg,said: “Congratulations to PD’s Barney, Skye and Mason who are our newest recruits hitting the streets of North Yorkshire following their successful 'drugs, cash and firearms detection' course.

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“It’s a tough course which involves a lot of commitment by both dogs and their handlers. But their determination and desire to progress and learn resulted in them passing with shining colours.

“I’m very proud to present them with their well-earned licenses to work. Well done pups.”