Jul 18 - Police Dogs Passing Out Parade
This morning the Royal Gibraltar Police presented its latest recruits: four police dogs that have just completed an intense 13-week training course. During a passing out parade held at Lathbury Barracks, police dog handlers displayed the various skills and abilities of the dogs which will form part of the RGP’s newly established Police Dog Section.
The Chief Minister, HE The Governor and the Minister for Justice were in attendance as was Eddie Yome, the Commissioner of Police.
The first phase of the display focused on general obedience and heelwork tasks. This was followed by a series of training routines including bite-work and the protection of the handler during an arrest. The final section was an impressive demonstration of operational scenarios.
The uses to which police dogs are put include search tasks where articles containing human scent are detected, tracking tasks that involve the location of a person and protection tasks where the dog is ordered to chase and detain a person by biting. It is important in this last case that the dog responds to orders from its handler to standoff once the person stops resisting.
The Dog Section consists of:
PC 171 Gerry Martinez and PD Zulu
PC 51 Janssen Olivero and PD Tara
PC 34 Mark Penalver and PD Prince
PC 67 Nicole Buckley and PD Major (PD Major will not, unfortunately, do to medical conditions, qualify as an Operational Police Dog – PC Buckley will be working with another dog)
The course instructor was Mick Gentile of South Yorkshire Police. Mick joined the Essex Constabulary in 1981 and has been a Police Dog Handler since 1999 qualifying as an Instructor in 2008.
