00:00My name's Josh, this is Police Talk Dutch and I'm a dog handler at the Cleveland Police.
00:04So Dutch was sourced from another force, we both joined the unit at the same time
00:08at the start of the year, back in March. We did a nine week course together and then we've been on
00:14the streets ever since. I think the best thing about Dutch is his temperament. When you're at
00:19home he's a very loving dog, just wants to play but then when you come out the patio doors and
00:25you've got your work boots on and trousers on he's absolutely fired up, ready to go to work.
00:29I think perfect match because I'm a pretty chilled out person, my handling style. When I'm chilled out
00:35he's chilled out and when I fire it up he'll fire it up. So it's a perfect match really.
00:40So it was actually our first shift out together on our own. We'd already just caught a couple
00:45locked up coming out the back of the house and was coming towards the end of the shift and then
00:50was made aware that a vulnerable person had obviously made some threats that they were going to harm
00:55themselves. So we deployed to the area where he'd been seen going to. That was quite a popular
01:03country park in Hartlepool. So when we arrived we had a rough idea of where the vulnerable person had
01:10gone. Kipped the dog up, got his tracking line, got his harness on and cast him out and thankfully
01:16fairly quickly he got a good track. Obviously at the time you don't know if you're tracking on the
01:21vulnerable person or you could be tracking on anybody but he obviously clearly was on the
01:27right track and then he was pulling well into his harness. It wasn't the longest track but obviously
01:36the dog comes to a stop, his ears prick up and then I can tell there's somebody and he just drags us in
01:41left, obviously right in where the vulnerable person would have gone in and there he was.
01:46Yeah and we found him and credit to the dog because I think without him he could have ended a bit differently.
01:54Oh I think it's all, I know we're a team but I think particularly that job it's all down to the dog.
01:59I think you know you can get drawn into in situations like that just as an officer looking
02:06you know at a route the person's most likely to take whereas the dog obviously is
02:09you know he's tracking on scent and he's likely to find that route that that person's taken
02:14you know far better and easier than you know anybody's going to be in.
02:19My name is Jimmy Greaves, I am the training manager here at Cleveland Police Dog Support Unit.
02:24On becoming aware of Josh's job, I think it was pertinent to nominate him for an award. He was
02:35very new to the unit, it was his first operational shift going solo with Dutch and whilst our dogs are
02:43out in the communities tackling criminal criminality every day and protecting vulnerable people I felt
02:50that the fact that Josh having done this so close on in his career and saved someone from harm it was
02:57well deserved of the award. Dutch and I are really proud to receive the Thin Blue Paw Lifesaver Award.
03:04Delighted to get such an award especially so early on in a partnership and
03:09I'll take probably 20% credit, 80% of the dog and hopefully it's a sign of good things to come.
03:16I think it'd be good good for our unit, good for the dog section and yeah really proud.
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