The Early Years
Pound for pound a dog is twice as strong as a human. Throughout history mankind has used this fact to his advantage; there is evidence that the Greeks used dogs during battles over 2,500 years ago and the Romans used war dogs which were even provided with armour.

It is recorded that in the fifteenth century Parish Constables in England took dogs with them when they went out to patrol the streets at night however it is likely that these dogs were pets used for company rather than any police duties. This position continued into the nineteenth century when pet dogs often accompanied officers on night duty. This seemed to have been officially sanctioned in the 1890s when a fox-terrier called "Topper" was based at Hyde Park Police Station in London and was made available to officers who wished to take him out on patrol. "Topper" was probably no more than an early "publicity stunt" for the Metropolitan Police. He was adored by visitors and often mentioned in periodicals of the day but he was untrained and ineffective and unpopular with the rank and file.

In 1888 Charles WARREN, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police tested the effectiveness of two bloodhounds with a view to using them in the search for the infamous Victoria murderer, Jack the Ripper. The experiment was a painful and embarrassing failure; one of the dogs bit the Commissioner and they both ran off, requiring a police search to find them again.

The Continental Trials

The story now moves to the continent. In 1897, following a series of attacks on Police Officers at night, a Prussian Police Inspector, Franz LAUFER had the idea of using dogs to accompany his officers to ward off any attackers.

LAUFER had no experience of dogs and his fellow officers were sceptical. However, he pressed his Government to assist and in 1900 was given a grant of 500 marks to purchase 3 dogs to accompany the nightly Police Patrols. As he was breaking new ground there were no books or experts to assist him in this task but eventually he found a Police Sergeant who had worked with dogs in his previous employment as a gamekeeper. Sergeant LANGE thought that the Alsatian (German Shepherd Dog) best suited the task but Inspector LAUFNER disagreed and thought that the Great Dane would be more intimidating to the criminals. Sir Arthur CONAN-DOYLE had recently promoted this breed in his Sherlock HOLMES story "The Hound of the Baskervilles" which had been widely read throughout Europe.

LAUFER believed that the dogs could be used not only for protecting the Police but also for tracking criminals from the scene of a crime. In 1901 his first dog, a Great Dane called "Caesar" entered service. He was kept muzzled and always remained on a lead although he must have been quite a handful to control. Others were soon recruited.

Local people were dubious but when one of the dogs traced a criminal after a track of over two miles, the dogs and Inspector LAUFER got some well-earned publicity.

Meanwhile in Ghent (Belgium), the Police Chief, Mr VAN-WESEMAEL was also using dogs to accompany his officers on patrol at night. He used Belgium Sheepdogs (Flemish Shepherd Dogs) which could be well trained and found to be highly effective.

They returned unimpressed; a report to the Commissioner said "The dogs are useful but their expertise has been exaggerated. We feel that London is no place for police dogs".

The same year a Mr GEDDES, the Chief Goods Manager for Hull Docks in Yorkshire visited Ghent and happened to see the work of the police dogs. He was very impressed with what he saw and on his return to work arranged a meeting with Superintendent J DOBIE of the North Eastern Railway Police who was responsible for policing the docks at Hull.

GEEDES was able to convince the Police Superintendent that dogs may assist his officers in the security at the docks and on 26th November 1907, the two men and some other officers attended Ghent on a "fact finding " mission. They were met by the Ghent Police Dog Section which by then numbered 40 officers and dogs. Superintendent DOBIE was suitably impressed and was determined to set up a similar scheme at the docks at Hull.

Inspector DOBSON

Back home, DOBIE gave the task of setting up the new scheme to Inspector DOBSON. Unlike the Ghent Police DOBSON opted to use Airedale Terriers as he considered them to be stronger, hardier and have a keener sense of smell. Another consideration was that their wiry coat was less likely to pick up mud from the docks and therefore they would need less grooming.

The first British Police Dog Section

Early in 1908 the first Police Dogs to be used in the United Kingdom went on patrol at Hull Docks. Initially there were just four dogs; " Jim", "Vic", "Mick" and "Ben" . Jim’s handler was Sergeant ALLINSON who was pictured in the local press and the nationally circulated "Pall-Mall" and "Penny Pictorial" magazines. The latter reported: " In a novel experiment by the North Eastern Railway Police, dogs are used as detectives on the docks at Hull. They consist of a number of trained Airedale Terriers which, in company with the Railway Police patrol throughout the night and capture thieves, tramps and other persons who may be sleeping out. The dogs are trained to obey a police whistle and to chase and stop a man who is running away"

On 26^th November 1908 the scheme extended to Hartlepool Docks and shortly afterwards to the Tyne Dock and Middlesbrough Docks, all policed by the N.E.R. Police. The dogs were all trained at Hull where kennels had been erected. Each dog had his own kennel space with a run. They were also issued with a coat to wear during bad weather. The kennel-man was a PC who (like Sergeant LANGE in Prussia) had been a game-keeper before he joined the force.

These dogs were only used at night and were probably not specific to an individual handler. They were trained by use of "treats" to "protect the police uniform" indeed to attack anyone who was not wearing a uniform. Anyone not in uniform in the docks at night could be considered a suspect. The dogs would even growl at their own handlers when they were not in uniform.

Commissioner PIRON of the Ghent Police was invited to England to visit the new Dog Section and he expressed his delight at an exhibition of "thief taking" by the dogs.

In 1910 the "North Eastern Railway Magazine" gave an account of an early arrest by these dogs: "Early one morning a policeman accompanied by a dog was patrolling St Andrews Dock in Hull and, seeing a man loitering in a suspicious manner called upon him to stop. The man took no notice so the officer slipped his dog �?one of the best. It soon had the man down and begging for mercy. Having secured this man the officer made a search and found the window of a refreshment room broken. He entered and called upon those inside to surrender. Receiving no response he called out that he had taken his dog’s muzzle off when immediately came the reply " put his muzzle back on sir and we will come out" and two burly fellows came from behind the counter. They, along with their companion were marched by the officer and his dog to the Police Station, a distance of about half a mile without the slightest resistance. They turned out to be notorious burglars and received their just desserts"

It gives another example of their use: " An officer was passing a wagon when his dog scented something inside. The wagon was opened and two men were found sleeping next to an amount of stolen property. When told the game was up they said that they would not come out for a "slop" (the local slang name for a bobby) but when the officer said he would take the muzzle off his dog they changed their tune and walked to the Police Station with the officer "like lambs"

They were also used for crowd control, the magazine reports: " On an occasion where there was a fire on board a ship a number of hooligans congregated and, taking advantage of the small number of police present, became defiant. Two dogs were bought to the scene, and it was amusing to see the desperados falling over each other in their haste to leave the dock."

These are some of the earliest examples of police dogs in action in the UK.

Police Dog Bravery

From Hull Docks; police dogs were sent to other railway companies police forces around the country. One of the first was "Charlie" who was used by the nearby Hull and Barnsley Railway Police. In 1912 he was on patrol with his handler, PC EASTON when they came across a man armed with a knife. The officer attempted to arrest the man but was stabbed in the chest (luckily his thick greatcoat saved him from serious injury) Charlie leapt on the man to defend his master and held him down until he could be arrested. As a result of his good work Charlie (with PC EASTON) was invited to Cruft’s Dog Show in London the following year where he was awarded with a shield and a medal by the Canine Defence League. He was the first Police Dog in the country to receive such a reward.

The good work of these police dogs became known to the military and during the early months of the Great War, ten police dogs from Hull Docks were conscripted into the army to accompany the 17^th Northumberland Fusiliers (North Eastern Railway Pioneer Battalion)

The dogs did valuable work in France where they were used as guard dogs. The NER Magazine shows a picture of seven of them at a tented camp in France. The picture is entitled "The Sentry Dogs" and although their handlers are in khaki it is likely that they are Railway Policemen who had joined up with their dogs.

It is probable that these dogs were seen by (the now) Lt Col RICHARDSON the man who had tried to persuade the Metropolitan Police to take on dogs in 1906. He championed the use of war dogs. At the outbreak of War Germany had 6,000 trained dogs. (Many surely trained by Inspector LAUFER and Sgt LANGE) The British Army had just one, a guard dog used by the Norfolk regiment. RICHARDSON and his wife set up a War Dog Training School at Shoeburyness in Essex. Hundreds of dogs were subject to a harsh training regime of just four weeks duration. As they were fed, grenades were exploded near them and if they ran off they got hungry. They soon learnt to ignore gunfire and noise. At the front they were mainly used as messenger dogs but they endured awful conditions and their life expectancy was short. Like deserters, those dogs that failed in action were shot.

During the war the work of the Police Dog Section at Hull continued, still led by Inspector DOBSON. By the end of the war no less than 185 suspects had been detained at the docks, many with the assistance of dogs.

The first "G.S.Ds"

After the Great War the Dog Section was subject to a review and in 1923 the Hull Trainers decided to use the Alsations the favoured dog of the German Army during the conflict. An early use of these new dogs is recorded in the LNER magazine of 1924 which reports an incident at Middlesburgh Docks the previous year. PC LEITCH was on patrol with police dog "Prince" when they caught three men breaking into an office. They ran off but "Prince" was slipped from his lead and caught one. In court the burglar ruefully related his capture to the Judge. " I knew nothing until the dog butted me, got between my legs and forced me down. The constable kept shouting to the dog "Go on Prince". It frightened the wits out of me and I was so terrified I could not speak!"

It took until the late 1920’s for other "non-railway" Police Forces to become interested in the use of police dogs and it was in 1934 that the Home Office set up a committee to evaluate their use. It was initially felt that dogs on the streets would harm police / public relations but the following year H. M. Inspector of Constabulary agreed that the Metropolitan Police could have two Labradors which commenced patrol in 1938 on the streets of Brixton and Southwark. This was 30 years since the first Police Dogs were used by the Railway Police at Hull. At the outbreak of the Second World War, these two dogs were transferred to the Cheshire Constabulary.

During the war, Railway Police including its dog handlers were all armed. A rare photo from this period shows six dog handlers, each carrying a gas mask and armed with a revolver on patrol with their dogs at Alexandra Docks at Hull. Nearby at West Hartlepool Station, on the 27^th July 1940, dog handler PC William RACE was struck by a train and killed whilst on patrol. His faithful dog attacked the railway staff who went to his assistance.

Hedon Hall
After the war many different railway and dock police forces amalgamated to become the British Transport Commission Police. This new force, the second largest in the country, had a police dog strength of 24. A new Police Dog Training Centre was established at Inmans Farm, Hedon Hall near Hull, the kennels being located in converted stables. The Officer in Charge of this new school was Inspector John MORRELL who not only obtained gift dogs but begun to breed pedigree dogs for use by the Force. It was under his stewardship, and with the support of Chief Constable Arthur WEST that the strength of the dog section was increased to 75.

In 1960 Inspector MORRELL died at the age of 46 and his role was taken on by Inspector Herbert SHELTON who was recruited from another force for the task.

Chief Inspector SHELTON

Dog School Elstree

Elstree

SHELTON was responsible for the construction of a new Police Dog Training Centre at Elstree in Hertfordshire. The building consisted of 15 kennels, a vets room, offices and a two bedroomed flat for the Instructors who lived on site. It was designed by Dr F.C.C. CURTIS, the Chief Architect for British Rail and when opened was the most modern and advanced facility in the UK. This new facility allowed more dogs to be trained and Dog Handler Posts were established at many stations and docks throughout the country including Southampton Docks which formed it’s Dog Section in 1962.

It was at Southampton in 1973 where PC "Spud" MURPHY trained his General Purpose dog to detect Cannabis that was being imported into the country, often amongst goods and freight. The Superintendent was so impressed he obtained a dog specifically for this purpose. "Cap" (named after a ships captain who donated him) was multi-handled by four officers. On one occasion PC BOUGHTON was with Cap when he put the dog into the back of a lorry. The dog gave an indication by somersaulting backwards in his excitement. Several sacks of Cannabis were found in the lorry with a street value of many thousands of pounds.

Between 1973 and 1974 arrests by Dog Handlers rose from 738 to 908 but this did not impress the new Chief Constable Eric HASLAM who had joined the force from the Kent County Constabulary. He reduced the clearly successful dog section to just 22 officers. (It was rumoured at the time that he had once been bitten by a police dog in his previous force!)

On 4^th July 1974 PC Don GORDON and his police dog "Jim" caught a man stealing cable at Grand Terminus Junction, Glasgow. The man slashes the officer around the face and stabs and slashes Jim before escaping. Despite their injuries the team chases and again tackles the man but receive further injuries. The officer requires 38 stitches but the man is caught and officer and dog receive the "Whitbread Shield" for their brave conduct. The first and only time a dog handler has won this award.

PC PARKINSON of Manchester became the first BTP officer to undergo training for detecting explosives when in 1980 he and his dog attended a course with the Cheshire Police. His dog was dual purpose however today (2003) the force has 14 single purpose Explosive Detector Dogs.

In 1982 PC Margaret LYALL, stationed at Glasgow became the first female dog handler in the force.

PW Margaret LYALL and Dog

Tadworth and "Ginger"

After many years experience with dog training in the Metropolitan Police, Inspector John LLOYD joined the force in 1983. He set about increasing and improving the Dog Section of the Force and the following year a new Dog Training School was opened on a site adjacent to the Force Training Centre at Tadworth, Surrey. This building was based on the school at Elstree and initially had kennels for four dogs, a vets room and office, although it was later expanded to provide accommodation for a further 3 dogs and another instructor. Training was provided by Insp. LLOYD and Sgt "Ginger" ABLARD who was a dog handler for most of his service.

Sgt ABLARD was awarded the B.E.M. in the Queens New Years Honours list of 1988 for his services to Dog Handling within the British Transport Police.

Terrorism and Drugs

On 21^st December 1989 a terrorist bomb exploded on Pan-Am 747 which crashes in and around the Scottish town of Lockerbie. Two dog handlers from the BTP in Scotland, Davy CONNELL and Alistair CAMPBELL arrived on scene within an hour and commenced a tour of duty that lasted 33 hours. The officers and dogs discover a grim total of 23 bodies. They were later joined by dog handlers PCs Callum WEIR and Neil RUSSELL who remained on site until the end of the searches four weeks later. The involvement of these four officers was such that they were called to attend court in Holland to give evidence relating to the incident some eleven years later.

Passive Alert Detection Dogs were first used by the Customs and Excise and the Prison Service but in 1998 the use of such dogs were brought to the attention of Detective Chief Superintendent Peter WHENT. As a result PC Judy BAILEY attended a Home Office Training

School with her dog "Benji" The BTP were used as a pilot force for this aspect of policing with dogs and the experiment was highly successful. In their first two years together, Judy and Benji made over 4000 searches which resulted in 1546 arrests. Other forces have now followed the lead of the BTP in training and using "PAD" dogs.

The Dog Section Today.

With a strength of 64 dogs the British Transport Police Dog Section is one of the largest in the country. There are 34 General Service Dogs all but one being German Shepherds (the exception is "Thor" a Rottweiler based in London.) The 17 explosive detection dogs are based around the country and regularly search stations and other premises primarily prior to Royal or VIP visits.

The railways have regularly been used by criminals to traffic drugs, the 13 Drug Detection Dogs have a very high arrest rate which helps to combat this trend. These dogs are either Labradors or Springer Spaniels. Most Dog Handlers have more than one dog and some dogs are dual purpose.

BTP Dogs are regularly called on to perform duties away from the railway.

The Dog Training School at Tadworth has four staff; two Instructors who were previously dog handlers in the Metropolitan Police and two Police Officers.

The BTP Dog Section have the longest pedigree and continue, nearly one hundred years after they were formed to provide a valuable and reliable service to the Railways and the British Public.