A NEW four-legged recruit is ready to begin his journey at West Yorkshire Police.
The Dog Section has welcomed Archer, who is set to be trained as a fully licensed police dog.
Archer arrived from Scotland in October when he was eight weeks old and has been allocated to PC Duncan Matthews who will spend the next year training and socialising him.
Archer is starting his training at West Yorkshire Police’s dog unit (Image: Police)
It is hoped he will then undertake his initial training course next Autumn to become a fully-fledged Police Dog.
PC Matthews is hoping he’ll follow in the paw prints of his current dog PD Luther who, at eight and a half years old, will be set to retire next year.
PC Matthews said: “Archer will train to be a general purpose dog, which involves tracking suspects from burglaries, searching buildings, dealing with public order, policing major events, and we also use them to search for missing people and stolen property. Eventually, if they have the right qualifications, they can be firearms support dogs as well.
“Archer’s personality is certainly starting to come through now. He’s confident, inquisitive, happy to go exploring and happy to interact with other dogs and other people. He’s got the drive there because of the nature of his breed, so it’s now about harnessing that and controlling it.”
The Dog Section works to keep communities safe and support frontline officers.