While we may be in the dog days of summer, Belleville police are hoping that their second canine unit will be able to help increase their response capability.
Constable Darrell Hatfield and German Shepherd Dash were introduced at Belleville Police Headquarters on Tuesday.
They join Constable Jesse McInroy and German Shepherd Bax on the front line.
“We’re going to have twice the coverage now than we did prior,” Acting Chief Chris Barry tells Quinte News.
“It’s important for everybody to have their downtime and their time off, and we cannot continue to have one officer on call, 24/7, 12 months of the year, like we were before. Those officers have a very stressful job. They need to decompress. They need to get away from their work and spend time with their family. So we’re excited they’ll be able to rotate time off and on call coverage.”
Acting Chief of Belleville Police, Chris Barry, delivering a presentation at Belleville Police Headquarters. July 30, 2024. (Photo: Zach McGibbon/Quinte News)
When it came to expanding the canine unit, Barry said a business case had to be put together in order to justify the need for an additional canine unit.
“Do we have the calls for service? Are we generating enough work to justify it? Because those dogs have to work too,” Barry said.
“Constable McInroy was tracking his calls. He brought it to the senior management team. We got some corporate sponsors lined up that were really, really raring to go with us. It’s a great tool for a community and a police service of our size to have two dogs is just fantastic.”
Corporate sponsors of the new canine unit include Cobourg Development Services, Stirling Veterinary Service and Pet Valu Belleville.
Constable Hatfield and Dash have already been operational for the police service and have been involved in several article searches.
“I’m constantly going over debriefing things and how did that go, and what can I already improve on,” Hatfield tells media.
“It has been pointed out to me, and I have to focus on the positives, that a: we got out when we should have and when we could help, and b: he hooked a track and was taking us in the right direction. At the end of the day, I was able to tell if he was doing his job or if he didn’t like what he was doing and he wasn’t into order, or he wasn’t doing what we trained to do, and to be able to read that, that’s a win.”
Constable Hatfield also described Dash and working with him.
“He is very high drive,” Hatfield said.
“He really wants to work. But it’s also fun watching him on a day off after we do just a simple track on a hot day like this. So take him to a pond not far from my house and throw him in and see him for a few minutes, just kind of relax and enjoy something like that too. He enjoys that. But more than anything, more than a jump in a pond or even his ball up there, just a bit of demo work, he just loves work, and it’s incredible to watch him.”
As part of the presentation, both Dash and Bax were given their badges as part of a ceremony.
Dash taking part in a obedience exercise with Constable Darrell Hatfield of the second Canine Unit. July 30, 2024. (Photo: Zach McGibbon/Quinte News)
