7:52am Tuesday 22nd July 2008
PAINSTAKING searches often yield vital clues that can make or break major police investigations.
But hunting for a drop of blood on a car or a body buried in woodland can be a laborious process taking dozens of highly-trained officers many valuable man hours.
Now Hampshire Police have re-schooled some special staff members to help sniff out hidden bodies, human remains or weapons, missing people, and even specks of blood invisible to the eye.
Four police patrol dogs have received specialist training to become the county's first victim recovery dogs.
Working in pairs, the canine teams of animal and handler can search areas more quickly and effectively, and crucially with minimal disruption to crime scenes and potential evidence.
Hampshire Police yesterday showed off their dogs' new skills for the first time.
The unit makes Hampshire one of only a handful of forces in the country to have dogs with the specialised ability to search for hidden or buried decomposing and decomposed body parts.
The animals have already been deployed to incidents in the county, and were also sent to Yorkshire to help the high-profile hunt for schoolgirl Shannon Matthews.
PC Rob Ford, one of the four officers working with the victim recovery dogs, said they can save time and money in identifying scenes of crime.
"It really does give any force that uses the dogs the opportunity to maximise the forensic potential of any scene, without having an entire search team coming through the area removing evidence on their clothing," he said.
"We're able to enter a crime scene with the two dogs, leave a very low forensic footprint, and hopefully identify an area of interest."
All four dogs - three German Shepherds and a Malinois - are patrol animals within the force's existing canine team.
But after requests from detectives asking for extra capabilities, they have now been taught additional techniques by specialist trainers from the Metropolitan Police.
The new skills can be put to use for finding victims in the event of a major disaster, including a terrorist attack or plane crash, locating criminally-concealed bodies, discovering traces of blood, and tracking down bloodied weapons.
"I'm very excited by the opportunities these dogs will give us to detect crimes which we may not have been able to before," said the head of Hampshire's Dog Support Unit, Inspector Paul Western.
"The deployment possibilities are great, and they may prove particularly useful in searching for discarded weapons such as bloodied knives, and clothing."
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