Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner for Sussex, Katy Bourne OBE, shares some exciting news ....
Last week, I met with Superintendent Graham Barnett, the lead for the Specialist Operations Unit (which includes the Dog Unit) and Louise Crawford, Animal Welfare Co-ordinator for Dogs Trust, to sign a Memorandum of Understanding for our new Animal Welfare Independent Visitor Scheme.
The scheme is supported by the National Police Chiefs’ Council, the Association of Police & Crime Commissioners and Dogs Trust and follows a similar process to Independent Custody Volunteers who make unannounced visits to custody centres to check on the wellbeing of detainees.
Volunteers will check on the welfare of police dogs within the Gatwick Explosives Dog Unit - inspecting conditions at Gatwick Police Station, including their kennels, vehicles and training grounds.
Sussex Police’s Dog Training School (run jointly with Surrey Police) is internationally recognised and supplies specially trained dogs to countries all over the world so it’s important their welfare is held to the highest standard.
