Lord Campbell of CroyMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government how many dogs are in service or in training with the police forces in the United Kingdom.
§ Viscount DavidsonMy Lords, at the latest count in January of this year there were 1,809 dogs and 153 bitches in service with county and metropolitan police forces in the United Kingdom. Those figures do not include dogs used by other police bodies such as the British Transport Police, the Harbour Police and the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority Police, for which the information is not collected centrally.
Lord Campbell of CroyMy Lords, I thank my noble friend for his reply, which was in more detail than I had expected. I am sorry that dogs lack female company to that extent. As it seems that dogs have been effective in carrying out the tasks of guarding premises, tracking suspects and searching for drugs, are the police planning to use more in the future? Can my noble friend confirm that on several occasions dogs have saved the lives of policemen by attacking gunmen and drawing their fire?
§ Viscount DavidsonMy Lords, over the past two years the total police dog strength in the United Kingdom has risen by 14, from 1,948 to 1,962. The numbers are primarily a matter for the discretion of individual chief officers. When necessary, extra dogs and handlers may be borrowed from neighbouring forces under the mutual aid arrangement.
As regards dogs saving lives, we do not have the information centrally, but we know of three such cases which have been nominated over the past two years for the Police Dog Action of the Year Award. My noble friend will appreciate that in such instances it is impossible to say whether the lives of police officers would have been lost if the police dog had not acted, but in those cases there is a strong possibility that death or serious injury would otherwise have occurred.
§ Lord MishconMy Lords, is it not clear that we owe a great debt in this kingdom to the canine inhabitants? Will the noble Viscount the Minister tell the House how many of the numbers he so interestingly gave us are, in fact, specialised in drugs?
§ Viscount DavidsonMy Lords, I certainly agree with the noble Lord that these dogs do an extremely important job. As regards those specially trained to 300 detect drugs, the number I have here is 147, of which 54 are specialised in seeking out drugs and 93 are dual-purpose.
Lord Campbell of CroyMy Lords, can my noble friend confirm that in the police forces of this country there are a bloodhound and a St. Bernard? If that is so, what roles do they perform?
§ Viscount DavidsonMy Lords, I cannot confirm that there is a St. Bernard, though I am sure that noble Lords would think that they could perform a very useful job from time to time. There is one bloodhound on the force which is stationed in West Yorkshire and is used solely for endurance tracking of human scent, to which it is particularly well suited. It does not sniff for drugs, explosives or dead bodies and is unsuited to general purpose work; but it has been extremely successful in locating and following tracks up to 15 hours old. It has also the ability to concentrate on tracking for longer periods than other breeds used by the police.