It is an established fact that dog sections were attached to all of the larger units of the Roman Legions. Although evidence is somewhat lacking, it is generally accepted that the Romans used trained tracking dogs to pursue escaped prisoners and slaves. As Britain was a part of the Roman Empire for hundreds of years, historically it is reasonable to assume that the first trained dogs used to assist in law enforcement in Britain stem from this period.
Documented records from the Middle Ages show that money was set aside in towns and villages to pay for the upkeep of bloodhounds to be used by parish constables to track down outlaws and criminals. In fact, during the reign of King Henry I, documents showing the staffing levels of the Royal Palaces refer to the appointment of a constable who, with the aid of a marshal, 'shall maintain the stables, kennels and mews, and be responsible for protecting and policing the whole court'.
During the twelfth & thirteenth centuries, the forces of law and order were employed by the Barons and landowners to protect their privileges. Restrictions were placed upon the right to own a dog. Divided into three classes, small dogs, which were unlikely to be a threat to hunting, were unrestricted. Dogs that had natural hunting instincts, such as greyhounds and spaniels were barred altogether, and larger breeds were only allowed if used for security purposes and if their claws were removed. Constables used these larger breeds such as the bloodhounds more for their own protection than the ability to apprehend villains. A point worthy of note is that the bloodhounds of those times were described as " unreliable, bad-tempered and savage " but even then displayed an uncanny ability to track through the marshes and bogs which bordered the highways of that time. In Scotland bloodhounds became known as "Slough dogs" and it is from this name that the word "Sleuth", usually applied to a detective is derived.
By the beginning of the nineteenth century people were leaving the rural areas to move into the larger cities and towns. Large country estates were breaking down into smaller units and with this change came the decline in the popularity of the dog as a hunter and enforcer of the law. Rabies was endemic in the UK throughout the nineteenth century with packs of semi-wild dogs the main cause of infection which in turn crossed over into hunting dogs. It was about this point in history that people of all classes began to treat their dogs more as domestic pets rather than working animals and size and appearance became as important than temperament and working ability.
The period of the Napoleonic Wars (1803 - 1815) saw extreme outbreaks of violence and lawlessness in England. The existing forces of law & order, the parish constables and the Bow Street Runners were overwhelmed. As a result private associations were formed to help combat crime. Night watchmen were employed to guard premises with many of these individuals provided with firearms and dogs to protect themselves from the criminal elements. In 1829 Sir Robert Peel established the Metropolitan (London) Police Force, the first professional body to police the whole Metropolitan area. From 1935 onwards, police forces were set up in the larger boroughs and cities, as well as in the counties, so that by the end of the century, professional policemen were policing the whole country.
One of the first real attempts to use dogs to aid police in the detection of crime and the apprehension of a criminal was in 1888 when two bloodhounds were used in a simple tracking test set by the then Commissioner of the Metropolitan (London) Police, Sir Charles Warren with a view to using them in the hunt for the Victorian murderer, Jack the Ripper. The results were far from satisfactory, with one of the hounds biting the Commissioner and both dogs later running off requiring a police search to find them.
Official use of police dogs were recognised as being of value on the European Continent as early as 1859, with the Belgium Police in Ghent using dogs to officially patrol with the night shift. Germany, France, Austria and Hungary soon followed with dogs becoming an accepted part of the official police establishment. It should be noted that the dogs employed at this time were hard aggressive animals that could inspire fear, protect their handler against attackers and be prepared to tackle courageously anyone found lurking in the ill lit streets or open spaces. The breeds most commonly used by the end of the nineteenth century in these countries were Belgian & German
Shepherds, Boxers, Dobermans and Airedales (imported from England).
The first major step forward in the development of the modern police dog came in the 1890's in Germany where serious attempts had been made to introduce recognised training programmes for the dogs purchased by the police, army & customs authorities. Rapid progress was made in the field of dog training with the development of the German Shepherd Dog as a breed and the formation on the 22nd of April 1899 of the Verein fur Deutsche Schaferhunde or SV (The German Shepherd Dog Society) . In 1903 the SV staged civilian police dog trials that encompassed control, criminal work and nose work exercises. The police authorities were impressed but were
not convinced that the intensive efforts expended on training and the costs involved were justified by the results.
The primary object of the police dog at this time was still seen as that of deterrent. In the UK the attitude was very much the same, dogs were a good thing as long as they didn't cost money or require special training, an attitude that still appears to be prevalent in many police departments around the world today. In 1914 official authority was granted for 172 constables in the Metropolitan (London) Police to take their own dogs on patrol with them, a motley crew of sheepdogs, retrievers, collies, terriers, spaniels, mongrels and even one Pomeranian.
In 1908, the North Eastern Railway police who used Airedales to put a stop to theft from the docks in Hull formed the first recognised UK Police Dog Section. By 1910 the British Transport Commission Police had taken over, experimenting with other breeds such as Labradors, Dobermans and finally, the German Shepherd or Alsatian as it was then known.
After the 1914 -1918 war, despite the success of the transport police dogs the police authorities in the UK continued to show a lack of interest in the use of dogs as an aid to police work. On the continent however, dogs were being used for a variety of purposes with organised dog training centres being set up in various locations. The impressive results being obtained on the continent could not be ignored forever, and in 1934 a committee was set up to investigate the whole question surrounding the use of police dogs in the UK. An interesting excerpt from the London Times dated 15th January 1938 gives an interesting insight into the thinking of senior police officers of the
time in regard to the use of dogs. Colonel Hoel Llewellyn, Chief Constable of Wiltshire was quoted as follows:
"A good dog with a night duty man is as sound a proposition as you can get. The dog hears what the constable does not, gives him notice of anyone in the vicinity, guards his masters bicycle to the death, and remains mute unless roused. He is easily trained and will go home when told to do so with a message in his collar".
Bearing in mind that this was a statement from a pro dog man of the times, is it any wonder that the authorities failed to understand the true worth of the dog in the role of law enforcement for a number of years to come.
In order to try and establish the best breed to be employed as a police service dog, the 1934 committee set up an experimental Home Office dog training school in Washwater, near Newbury, adjoining Lord Carnarvons Highclere Estate. It concluded that a duel purpose dog, trained to carry out all disciplines was not possible and that tracking and other work would have to be divided. The committee reported in 1937 that the experiments at the dog training school showed that the best breed of dog for following a scent was the bloodhound, and the best breed of dog for general patrol purposes was the Labrador.
Experiments had been done in crossing Fell Hounds to Labradors and Otter Hounds to Bloodhounds, but both sets of crosses left something to be desired. As a result of the committees conclusions, recommendations were made that Chief Constables 'consider' the use of dogs in police work, and it was once again left to the individual
chief police officer to decide the worth of employing dogs in his respective police force.
In 1938 two specially trained black Labradors were introduced into the Metropolitan Police as general patrol or 'utility' dogs, however, they were transferred in 1940 to the Cheshire Constabulary. With the outbreak of the Second World War any further efforts to introduce dogs into a policing role in the UK were abandoned.
The end of the Second World War brought a crime wave to the shores of the UK, generally attributed to the presence of returning servicemen. It also brought the appointment of Chief Constable of the Surrey Constabulary to Sir Joseph Simpson K.B.E. a man who had a lifelong interest in gundogs and who saw clearer than most the possibilities of adapting the natural abilities and qualities of the dog to the specialist requirements of the police service. By good fortune, the Surrey Constabulary also employed an officer who had taken part in many of the unrewarding experiments to try and prove the value of the trained dog in police work; his name was Sergeant
Harry Darbyshire.
This liaison set in motion the first positive effort to convince the Home Office and Police Forces throughout the UK of the true worth of a well-trained dog. With Darbyshire's enthusiasm and idea's and Simpson leadership and influence, the Surrey police headquarters at Mountbrown in Guildford became the epi-centre of breeding and training of the modern police dog. Within a short space of time the Surrey police dogs were touring the country giving demonstrations to other police forces, whilst at the same time, Sir Joseph Simpson was bringing his influence to bear on the Kennel Club and other senior police officers. Slowly they began to understand and appreciate the potential value of the police service dog.
After a careful study of the work carried out by Harry Darbyshire, Sir Joseph Simpson reached a number of important conclusions on which further developments and progress were to be based. The most far reaching of these was to discard the accepted notion that all police dogs should be divided into two classes, tracking dogs and criminal work patrol dogs. The evidence pointed to the fact that some breeds of dogs were capable of being trained to carry out both disciplines. He also concluded that there should be a more rigorous selection process when accepting dogs for police work, the first step towards the notion that the police service should breed their own animals in an attempt to produce the ideal police dog.
1946 also saw the formation of a small dog section within the Metropolitan Police, an important event in itself as the Metropolitan Police, serving the Capitol City and with the largest deployment of manpower has always been an influential component in the policing tactics of the UK as a whole. Six Labradors were purchased from Yorkshire farmers and deployed in South London, quickly proving their worth when on their first night on patrol they were used in the arrest of two American servicemen after a purse snatch.
In 1948 a new breed of police dog was used on the streets of London for the first time, the Alsatian Wolf Dog, later to be known as the Alsatian or German Shepherd Dog had arrived. The first of this breed in London was called 'Smokey' and such was the impression that he made, that a further twelve Alsatians together with another seven
Labradors were purchased. The Metropolitan Police Dog Section was growing so rapidly that a central dog training school was established at Imber Court and by 1950 the total number of trained dogs in the force numbered 90.
Due in the main to the efforts of Stanley Peck, C.B.E., B.E.M., Q.P.M., D.L., O.St.J., Chief Constable of Staffordshire Police and HM Inspector of Constabulary, the popularity of the police dog was being echoed all over the UK with police forces both large and small employing dogs and handlers on their strength and setting up dog training schools to cater for the ever increasing number of dogs being used.
