Five new Australian Federal Police (AFP) canines and their handlers are to be deployed across the country after graduating from a gruelling explosives detection course.
AFP Instructor, Glen Kemp said the new crime fighting duos were being posted to Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne and Perth to further enhance existing canine capabilities.
“While the course was mentally and physically demanding, the five new handlers had persevered despite the difficulties,” Mr Kemp said.
“This course teaches the technical elements needed to make a great canine handler but the participants need to have a good work ethic, along with the passion, patience and dedication to see it through,” he said.
“These handlers had that and then some and they should be very proud of their achievements so far.”
Mr Kemp said the extensive 13-week course, run by the National Canine Operations Centre in Canberra, would ensure the dogs and handlers were prepared to detect a range of military and commercial grade explosives, including firearms, in a variety of operational environments.
He said the AFP’s canine capability had also been bolstered with the arrival of eight new Labrador puppies from the Australian Border Force’s (ABF) Detector Dog Breeding Program.
ABF Tactical Capability Commander, Lauren Richardson said the puppies were representative of the high calibre of canine that the ABF Detector Dog Program produced.
“Our dogs are renowned not only here in Australia through their deployment to our agency partners like the AFP, but also around the world,” Commander Richardson said.
“This is testament to the important work the ABF does in breeding, developing and training our dogs,” she said.
“These dogs perform critical roles by executing highly technical work, and we look forward to the continued success we can achieve through collaboration between ABF and AFP.”
Commander Richardson said the puppies would commence training with their foster families before going on to complete their formal training, “which will prepare them to go out on the beat as a federal agent.”
