Criminals beware! Some tough new members of the Halifax Regional Police are officially on duty.
A badge presentation ceremony was held at HRP headquarters on Gottingen Street Friday afternoon.
The three new ‘officers’ could hardly contain their excitement – or tails – as they were given their badges by Chief Jean-Michel Blais.
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Blais told the crowd gathered to watch the badge ceremony that police service dogs are an important part of the policing family.
“We have eight teams in total of police service dogs and handlers,” said Blais. “The K-9 unit teams help to track lost people or suspects from a crime scene, detect illegal drugs and apprehend fleeing suspects on command.”
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Two-year-old Recon has been paired with Const. Jamie Cooke. He is a patrol dog that specializes in explosive detection.
Recon is the second dog that Cooke has been paired with. His previous partner, police service dog Vinnie, recently retired.
“It’s a privilege to be able to work with a dog and one that we don’t take lightly,” said Cooke.
“There’s no other bond that will quite match this bond. He’s the best partner you could ask for everyday and the most challenge you’ll ever have is trying to please a 50 pound police dog.”
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For Cst. Joey Malcolm, becoming a dog handler is something he’s been looking forward to since he first became a police officer 14 years ago.
“This is something I wanted to do since my first year of police work,” he said.
He was paired with Casey in September 2015 and the two have since undergone extensive training together.
“She’s about four years old, she has a birthday next week,” Malcolm said of his partner.
“She learned how to track, apprehend suspects, search for articles and evidence at crime scenes and also if there’s a building search that needs to be done, a suspect or somebody might have broken into a building, we can search an entire building,” he said.
Casey also received additional training and is able to detect eight different narcotics. She is the only operational female police service dog currently with the Halifax Regional Police.
“She’s very high energy. She comes home with me at the end of every shift and spends a lot of her time with our family at home,” said Malcolm.
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At just 18-months old, Morgan is the youngest pup to join the police force. He is named after Cst. Ron Morgan, who recently passed away from cancer.
“Ron was a handler. He was actually one of the pioneers in the Halifax-Dartmouth area to bring the dog section here and to municipal policing,” said Const. Phil MacDonald, Morgan’s handler.
“I’m one of the trainers for the unit, so to have a trainer take care of a dog in the namesake of a trainer it’s kind of nice, it fits.”
Morgan will be the third police service dog that MacDonald has worked with. He says handlers have a special and unique partnership with their dogs.
“It’s a bond,” said MacDonald.
“They spend 60 plus hours over your right shoulder in a truck and then they’re at home. It’s a lifestyle really. It is a job but it’s much more, it’s a lifestyle. I mean, you’re with them 24/7 at home, they become part of you.”