Dog Squad Stars Are Corrections’ Top Dogs

Dog Squad Stars Are Corrections’ Top Dogs

Stars of TV programme Dog Squad will represent the Department of Corrections in the narcotics section of the national police dog championships in Trentham next month.

Jesse and her handler Karina who feature in TVNZ’s Dog Squad programme are one of two detection teams who passed a series of tough challenges last week at Corrections’ national dog trials.

Jesse and Karina will be joined by recent graduate Kobi and his experienced handler Pete to represent Corrections at the national police dog championships where they will go up against Police and Customs dog teams in the narcotic detection section.

Corrections’ National Manager Detector Dog Services John Gallagher said the trials put handlers and their dogs through all aspects of their work.

“On any given day, Corrections’ detection dogs search people, cars, buildings, prisoner cells and outside areas for drugs.

“Our dogs are trained to recognise and seek out even the smallest quantities of various drugs and other contraband items to stop them entering our prisons. The trials reflect the many challenging situations our dogs and their handlers encounter every day.

“This gives a high level of assurance to the public in our commitment to keeping our prisons safe and free of contraband,” he said.

Kobi and Pete are based at Rimutaka Prison and also travel to Arohata Prison. The team came first in Corrections’ detection dog trials. It is a great start to Kobi’s career as he graduated from Corrections’ detection dog training in November 2014.

Jesse and Karina are based at Auckland Prison and support the detection teams at Northland Region Corrections Facility and Auckland Region Women’s Corrections Facility. The team took out second place in Corrections’ detection dog trials.

Corrections has 19 detection dog teams throughout the country. This includes 15 teams that detect a range of illegal drugs and four teams that detect cell phones and tobacco.

The detection dogs inspect prisoner property and cells as well as searching visitors, their vehicles, and property posted or couriered into New Zealand’s prisons.

ENDS

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