Police dogs beat national standards

Twenty teams went through a range of "operational tasks" during the four-day assessments to go beyond Home Office criteria and the winners received awards the Newby Wiske headquarters.

Assistant chief constable Sue Cross presented the winning team of Pc Richard Gape and his dog Otto with their certificate and a trophy, donated by Guided Solutions, a recruitment agency for medical practitioners.

"This was a great opportunity to be to able acknowledge the time and hard work put in by all of the teams. I know that all of the handlers and dogs across the force are extremely committed to their roles, and so the winners should be extremely proud of their achievement," said ACC Cross,

Certificates were also presented to the runners-up – Pc Scott Nixon and Rambo. Pc Geoff Bonas and Barney took third place in the contest.

Operational Training Inspector Kevin Robinson said: "I am very pleased that we have been able to re-introduce the annual tests which allows us to ascertain a police dog's effectiveness for general policing duties over and above the minimum standard."