The Edmonton Police Service’s (EPS) canine unit calendars are back for another year.
Every sale helps support the unit – raising about $10,000 a year.
Police service dogs are very important to the EPS.
“They get used every day, multiple times a day,” said EPS Cst. Brad Lebritton, who has been paired with his Belgian Malinois police dog Duco since 2020.
The canine unit works with every patrol division in the city, as well as the tactical and undercover teams.
“The dog’s main job is locating suspects who fled or who are hiding — so if you think of someone who’s committed a break and enter into a business, a compound, a residence, the dogs are used for that. Their noses are a lot more powerful than ours,” Lebritton said.
“There’s been lots of times where we’ve come back from a call that I thought, ‘Thank God you were here.'”
Duco is now heading into a well-deserved retirement due to a knee injury.
Purchasing the world’s best trained dogs is possible thanks to the Edmonton Police Foundation.
“We are super fortunate to have the support of the Police Foundation and their donors,” Lebritton said.
“Not only does it help with the purchase of the dogs themselves, but also helps with the purchase of equipment, like their harnesses and cameras that they use on a daily basis to do things like clear buildings and compounds.”
You can buy the EPS canine calendar at select Safeway and Sobeys locations in the Edmonton area.
Watch video above for more.