There was a meeting of blue and green at the latest graduation from the Police Dog Training Centre (DTC) at Trentham.

Alongside six new Police patrol dog teams at the ceremony on 27 March were three members of the Army’s 2nd Engineer Regiment, 2 Field Squadron, with three newly trained explosive detection dogs (EDDs).

They celebrated in front of whānau and friends, Police Commissioner Richard Chambers and other Executive members, and Lieutenant Colonel Joe Totoro, Commanding Officer, 2nd Engineer Regiment.

One new and five experienced Police handlers graduated. They are: Constables Pete Smits with Ozark (Hamilton) and James Napier with Murph (Tāmaki Makaurau); Senior Constables Cam Gunn with Taco (Hawke’s Bay) and Shane Brooks with Murdock (Palmerston North); and Constables Nick Press, with Oskar (Wellington) and Stu Clarke and Pyrox (Tāmaki Makaurau).

Commissioner Chambers congratulated them on their achievements and for their commitment to “an incredibly popular part of policing, but one of the toughest”.

“Thank you for what you do because the support you provide, in particular to a lot of our more junior frontline colleagues, gives them reassurance and allows us… to get the right outcome, given the nature of the jobs you find yourselves involved in.”

He paid tribute to families for their support and thanked the DTC staff. “I’ve been lucky enough to have worked operationally with many of you,” he said.

“I know the calibre of what you bring - and you continue in this training environment to produce the best handlers our organisation and our country could hope for.”

The Commissioner handed over to Deputy Commissioner Chris de Wattignar on his second-to-last day in Police.

Chris told the ceremony that, though he had never worked as a dog handler, dog section was instrumental in his joining Police in 1999 - after his house was burgled.

“The first person who turned up was one of the senior constable dog handlers and he was just absolutely awesome. It was a case of ‘I want to do that – I want to work in that space’.”

Reflecting on his first day on the front line, he said: “I nearly got my head bitten off by a dog handler.

“That’s no slip of the tongue, it was the handler not the dog. It was an early lesson in not getting between a car thief and a dog handler during a chase.

“You learn that pretty quick, and you learn the value of our dog handlers and what they do to keep our people safe.

“We love what you do and really appreciate how you work at the forefront of everything we do… whether it's in the middle of the night when you’re potentially working alone or out there at community events.”

The graduating Army teams were Sapper Jayden Miller with Billie; Sapper Harvey Mullins with Bay; and Sapper Joshua Smith, with Harlam.

Lieutenant Colonel Joe congratulated them and thanked DTC staff for helping prepare them for their vital role.

He touched on a fact of life familiar to Police handlers: the need to be ‘Instagram ready’ as they work with "the most photographed operators in the New Zealand Army…

"By virtue of being their handlers you now need to be as photogenically superior as those dogs are.”

Inspector Todd Southall, National Coordinator Police Dogs, closed the graduation with a tribute to the DTS staff.

“I’m really proud to be leading a fantastic team here,” he said.

“The passion that you all have for the role is amazing, it makes my job easier. So thank you to everybody that contributes to us putting our handlers out on the front line.”

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