Dog Squad Supports Surge Response At Townsville

Since 9 August, police have arrested 721 offenders - 596 adults and 125 juveniles - on 2,135 charges, including property crime, drug and weapons offences.

Local police have conducted 1215 bail checks and located 23 weapons out of 2,231 wandings as part of the high-visibility patrols.

The Townsville Dog Squad have been deployed to several incidents in recent weeks, to assist with tracking and apprehend offenders.

General purpose police dogs are trained to use their unique sense of smell to follow where a human has walked or run and continue following that track until the person is located.

This can be in suburbia, bush or semi-rural environments, and can also be deployed to search buildings or houses for suspects who are hiding.

The police dog squad enhances our policing capability by providing another tool to locate offenders who have fled the scene of a crime on foot such as a break and enter, a stolen vehicle, or a domestic violence incident.

The police dogs are trained to apprehend suspects if they ignore warnings, continue to run or are potentially armed.

Townsville Dog Squad works closely with other units including Tactical Crime Squad, Polair and General Duties officers.

They can also be used to search for missing persons.

Detective Inspector Jason Shepherd the Dog Squad is a crucial part of policing in Townsville.

"Our Townsville police dogs Zorko, Uzi, Blitz, Dash, Gunner and Drago offer a unique skill set as crime fighters," Detective Inspector Shepherd said.

Our police drug and firearms dogs Butters and Fern are trained to use their unique sense of smell to locate a suite of unlawful dangerous drugs and firearms. The are adept as searching dwellings, sheds, rural properties, businesses and vehicles.

"With the help of our police dogs, we are able to track offenders who flee from crime scenes, hold them accountable and keep the community safe."