Meet police force's newest canine crime fighters trained to detect drugs and firearms on Yorkshire's streets

The force has welcomed police dogs Barney, Skye and Mason who are now ready to face the front line detecting drugs, money and firearms after successfully completing their four-week initial course to become licensed detection dogs.

They will join PD Barney who, having already been working as a Drugs and Cash detection dog for six months, has completed the final part of his licensing, meaning he is now able to detect firearms, as well as drugs and cash.

The gruelling training has involved going out and about into busy environments to meet people and other dogs, while also perfecting the skills they have learnt to detect items blighting the streets.

Instructor PC Martin Gayles said: "It is a tough course which involves a lot of commitment by both dogs and their handlers, but their determination and desire to progress and learn resulted in them passing with shining colours."

Skye is described as a very bright and bouncy little girl and her natural ability to search no matter what the environment was shown on her course when she visited training venues across the county and managed to detect everything so quickly no matter where it was hidden.

PD Mason is a two-year-old Cocker Spaniel and joins PD Mikka living at home with their handler PC Thorpe who joined the Dog Section in 2018. PD Mason was gifted to the force by the Dogs Trust in Darlington in March 2018. His natural ability to use his nose and his happy character mean he takes everything is his stride and is a highly dependable asset to the force.

Their siblings, Patto, Lynne and Mikka are all General Purpose Police Dogs which means they are multi-disciplined canines who are trained to work under a variety of conditions. Their depth of skills includes; searching for missing people, tracking suspects from crime scenes and recovery of recently discarded articles of an evidential nature.