Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Sergeant Steven Dalrymple and Senior Constable Matthew Houghagen say Patrol Dogs like Drax are 'priceless' resources in the NT

Transcript

Sergeant Steven Dalrymple and Senior Constable Matthew Houghagen say Patrol Dogs like Drax are 'priceless' resources in the NT · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: It does seem like the Dog Operations Unit have been
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: deployed a lot recently, arresting a prison Eskpe this week,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: as well as a group of offenders in Berry Springs
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: in relation to a car theft. I believe there was
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: another incident as well where the Dog Operations Unit were
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: of assistance and an offender ended up being caught on the.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: Roof of a of a home.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Now joining me in the studio right now to talk
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: a little bit more about the Dog Option Unit and
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: the wonderful work that they are doing is Sergeant Stephen Dalrymple,
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Good morning to you. Morning, lovely to have you in
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: the studio, and of course Senior Constable Matthew Hohagen, good
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: morning to you.
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: And we have also got patrol dog Dras. Good morning Dracs.
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: I don't know if he's going to us. It's not
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: going to talk for me, is he.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: Oh?
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: There we go. Good morning to Dras.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: I tell you what to those out there listening this morning,
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: Drax is an absolutely beautiful looking dog.
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: He's glorious, Stephen. He is a German Shepherd, isn't he?
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, he's a very large German shepherd. And I
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: tell you what I would not want to be on
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: the wrong side of drax.
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: No, not many doo, now can you both.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: I know that there's been quite a few situations where
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: the patrol dogs have been required in recent days and weeks,
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: I mean ongoing, like it's something that they are obviously
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: doing all the time, catching criminals and catching those that
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: are doing the wrong thing. But this week or the
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: last week or so, it seems as though it's been
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: a really busy one for our patrol dogs and for
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: you guys of late.
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: I think it's been busy all year pretty much realistically.
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: Now that we've got three patrol dogs operating in Down
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: and there's Drags, there's Wedge, and now Daily, I think
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: we come to attention because we're out there more and more,
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: whereas previously we were struggling for numbers and things like that.
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: We've got another fellow that's due to graduate in September
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: with Arnie. Yep, he should be out in the road
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: come mid September, So yeah, we'll have a full complement
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: of four of us.
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: Is Arnie a big units Daily's brother?
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, so similar size.
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: And now Daily's just sort of just graduated or just
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: finished training. Tell us about his training, tell us what
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: he had to do to, you know, to get to
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: the point where he is out there apprehending offenders.
• 2:21
  Speaker 4: Yeah. Well, it's been a long, a long process where
• 2:24
  Speaker 4: you had him from eight weeks of age and he's
• 2:27
  Speaker 4: now just over eighteen months and he's hit the ground
• 2:29
  Speaker 4: run and so it's been the best part of two
• 2:31
  Speaker 4: years and we're both just super excited to be able
• 2:34
  Speaker 4: to get out there and actually contribute to our team
• 2:37
  Speaker 4: and also to the community.
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: And it's amazing work.
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: The work that you guys as handlers and also the
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: dogs do incredibly helpful. I would suspect, you know, say,
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: when Strikeforce Trident is working to apprehend, you know, people
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: around property offenses, and sometimes it can be a little
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: bit difficult if those offenders try to escape. Yeah.
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: Correct, So as e Verona's tried and as our go
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: to property offending team, they look after most of you
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: or all your unlawful entries and your most of the
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: cars that are stolen around and there's been quite a
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: few of them, especially the high lux rity in the
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: Langfres variety of late. We generally work arm in arm
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: with them or handing Paul. Yeah, let's call it and
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: when people are on the run, you know, we do
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: whatever we can to try and apprehend them and.
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: Bring them forward.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and you know, we'd heard a little bit earlier
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: in the week, or I think it was yesterday a
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: situation where I think it might have been Wedge who'd
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: been instrumental in helping to offend or to apprehended offender
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: who'd ended up up on a roof. The handler, I
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: think ended up having to obviously apprehend that person, but
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: very much with the assistance of Wedge.
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: That's correct, That's correct. By the time the handler actually
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: you put the dog in the down and he climbed
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: up to see whether anyone was on the roof as
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: he was going up the roof, they were coming down
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: the roof, and then they tracked him across the road
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: towards a bowling club and located to very scared little people.
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: Well, this is the thing, you know, the dogs they
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: are amazing dogs. You know, they're glorious looking dogs. But
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: once they turn it on, they certainly know how to
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: do their work. Like, how difficult is it in terms
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: of that training. Because it's something I've spoken to you
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: guys about before, where in years gone by, the police
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: dogs sort of weren't so friendly when you know, when they.
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: Are out and about. Whereas it can see from drags
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: this morning, he's happy as to be in here in
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: the studio.
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: But then once it comes time to actually, you know,
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: to apprehend someone, I'm assuming that his personality changes to
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: some degree.
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: Our methodology has changed significantly. We used to have the
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: land sharks is what they used to call them, which
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: would go and by and anything any time. Yep. That
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: doesn't really instill any confidence in the community because everyone
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: sees you are scared of you and things like that.
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: We're not about scaring people and things like that. We're
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: just about taking people into custody as safely as we can.
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: Now, can you tell me what's it like being a
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: handler of these dogs? Do you have to be super fit?
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: Have you got to be able to run with them.
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: To keep up.
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: Because I'm carrying a couple of.
• 5:14
  Speaker 4: Yeah, there is certainly a level of fitness that you
• 5:16
  Speaker 4: have to maintain, and you have to keep up with
• 5:19
  Speaker 4: the dogs, and you don't want them getting away from you,
• 5:21
  Speaker 4: that's for sure.
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Now, Drax has got a green toy there.
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: What is that?
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: That's his tug? That's his reward for the ultimate reward
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: for him will be that yep, as opposed to previously.
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: It might be a buy during an apprehension and things
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: like that, but at the end of the day, he
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: loves a game with me and this toy.
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: Now, how valuable are the three police dogs that we've
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: got in terms of being able to do your jobs?
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: Priceless? Absolutely, Well, that's a little bit of vice there,
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: but as far as i'm can turn their priceless because
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: they can de escalate a violent situation pretty quickly. As
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: we saw with Hoges and daily to day there was
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: an eskp not saying that he was violent towards us
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: at all, but he's attitude quickly changed from wanting to
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: run away to I'll be submissive because of Peel and
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: simply because the dog was presented.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and we've spoken before as well about that incredible
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: situation where there was an elderly woman who'd been lost
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: near the waterfront.
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: This was a year or so ago.
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: Now, and I believe it was Weidge who'd helped to
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: find her. So, you know, not even just in apprehending people,
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: but the search and rescue skills I would imagine as
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: well are quite amazing.
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: Yeah, the dogs are very good at what we do
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: or what they do. Sorry, we spent a lot of
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: time training and things like that. So they just with
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: the dog with the correct amount of drive, it actually
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: ends up being relatively easy. So I'm probably taking credit
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: for something that is a natural.
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: No, I mean, obviously they do require a lot of training,
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: how like, So it takes about eighteen months really to
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: train them to get to this point.
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: Well, it depends again on the maturity of the dog.
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: Arnie's a little bit slow with his maturity to Dailies.
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: That's why Daily is out in the road now. So
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: you've got to recognize what the dog is putting out
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: and what is capable of the time. Because the other
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: thing is you don't want to throw a young dog
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: into a situation that is going to overwhelm him and
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: have him have an adverse reaction from the dog where
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: he goes, oh, you know what, I don't want to
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: work anymore. This is not my thing. And especially if
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: you're at that eighteen month mark or twenty month mark,
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: now that Matt's out in the road, if he comes
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: across the situation, he might have to de escalate it
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: by removing himself from the situation so that there's no
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: adverse reaction to the dog.
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: And what is the working lifespan of our police dogs.
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: We try and get five years of working life out
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: of the dog. It's very difficult to climatic conditions up here,
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: so you find history has shown us that we don't
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: generally get that. The only one that we've had working
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: here from Godaway was Lupo yeap, my old dog. He's
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: still going luckily enough, but yeah, he got six years
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: of working life.
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and they work incredibly hard. What a good boy
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: Drax is being over there, Hey, just sitting keeping an
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: eye on you, Matthew.
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: Making sure that everyone's saving. Now, tell me, do the
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: dogs have a special diet?
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: Black book is.
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: Without selling the brand, but that's pretty much what were
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: dogs sing?
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yep, Well, we really appreciate you bringing drags in
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: this morning. I know that you all work incredibly hard,
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: but so the dog in it. At the moment, three
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: three of our patrol dogs, but that's going to increase
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: to four, correct, Yeah, amazing stuff. I think the work
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: they do is amazing. I think the training that happens
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: now as well, the way that they're able to interact
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: with the community when they're not sort of you know,
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: switched on to apprehending someone is phenomenal. You know, the
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: way that he can just come in here, be friendly
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: with everybody, but then when he's got to do his job,
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: he knows he's got to do his job. It's amazing stuff.
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much to all three of you for
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: coming in this morning.
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: Sergeant Stephen Dalrymple of course, and Senior Constable Matthew ho
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: hagen Bush also patrol dog Drax.
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much for being in the studio with
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: us this morning. Thank you.
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: It is just after ten thirty, and we will make
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: sure that we get a photo with Drax as well,
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: because I know all of you probably wanting to see Drax.