Police dog unit reduced by half
The dog unit at Strathclyde Police is set to reduce both its police dogs and dog handlers by half in the New Year.
A representative from the force has said that improvements in efficiency and better ways of working combined with new shifts has meant the unit can be reduced by 50 percent.
Handlers will be offered the opportunity to keep their police dogs and will be redeployed elsewhere within the force.
The surplus police dogs are to be rehomed with members of the public or redeployed to other police forces.
This move comes as a result of a review of the dog branch looking at the number of arrests and operations the dogs were used in, the costs involved and where the dogs were deployed.
Strathclyde Police Assistant Chief Constable Fiona Taylor commented:
“The public want us to work efficiently and effectively and the outcome of this review means that we will be able to do the same job at a substantially reduced cost. The money we save can be reinvested back into policing and those officers from the dog branch affected by the review can be redeployed to communities throughout the region.
“The welfare of the dogs has always been in our thoughts during this process. I’m sure that they will all find good homes, either with their handlers, a member of the public or another police force.”
