Greater Manchester Police reviews police dog deployment

police dog

Greater Manchester Police is changing the way it uses its police dogs to ensure it meets the demands of modern policing and to help the force to continue to provide an efficient and effective service to Greater Manchester's communities.

Like many other specialist police units, the dog unit will now be managed centrally by an inspector and ten dedicated sergeants. The handlers and their dogs will deploy from five police stations across Greater Manchester and the sergeants will manage their deployment. This will replace the current system, where dog handlers are supervised by divisional patrol sergeants who also have responsibility for large teams of patrol constables and the serious incidents they deal with.

The changes have been made to ensure that GMP's dog handlers, including those who specialise in drugs, explosives and bodies, are more evenly spread across the region and can easily be deployed to meet divisional demands and target hotspot areas. The changes will also ensure that training is tailored to suit the individual needs of the officers and their dogs rather than the same training being given to all handlers.

In 2006/07, GMP will be around £14million short of the money it needs to balance its books. The Force is doing the best it can with the limited resources and every effort has been made to protect front-line policing. Nevertheless, there will be a reduction of 35 dogs and 26 officers, as GMP can no longer support the current level of dogs and the cost of training. These recommendations were also part of a rigorous review of the dog unit, which was conducted in 2004. The budget shortfall has led to the recommendations now being prioritised.

Chief Superintendent Phil Hollowood, Head of GMP's Specialist Operations Branch said: "The reduction in dogs and handlers will not affect the service provided to Greater Manchester. Where a dog handler has not been selected to continue on in the new unit, their dogs will go to good homes. They will firstly be offered to their handler as family pets. But if the officers can't take them, the dogs will be offered to other police forces or the army. The officers will be returned to general patrol duties with most of them based on the divisions where they were already working."