Senior Constable Peter Wilson and police drug dog Danni hit the streets of Cranbourne and Hampton Park last week in a bid to sniff out crime. The pair has an incredible nose for crime.By Alison Noonan
POLICE enlisted the help of a fourlegged friend when they hit the streets of Cranbourne and Hampton Park last week to sniff out crime.
Threeyearold labrador Danni raised a few eyebrows when she joined a police patrol to search for drug offenders on Thursday.
Danni, her handler Senior Constable Peter Wilson and other members braved the searing heat to comb Cranbourne’s High Street, Cranbourne Plaza, Cranbourne Railway Station, Thompson Parkway Shopping Centre and the Hampton Park Shopping Centre.
Sen Const Wilson said although Danni did not appear as aggressive as other police dogs, she still held a sound ability to detect crime.
“She is very effective and being a labrador she is not as intimidating as other police dogs and therefore is able to get in and among crowds easily,” he said.
“The first person she identified was one of the other police operatives who had worked on a drug raid two days prior and had drug residue on his shoes. “Regardless of who you are, if Danni senses illegal substances on you or recent use of drugs, she will sit down straight away and other police members will appear and take it from there.”
Senior Constable Mel Colcott headed Thursday’s operation and said she was pleased with the community’s reaction to the use of a police drug dog.
“On this occasion we used both uniform and plainclothed police with the dog and received a great deal of interest once people had worked out what was going on,” she said.
“We had a number of detections, with one man to face court on use and possession of cannabis charges as well as another male who was arrested on unrelated warrants.”
Sen Const Colcott warned drug offenders that they’ll be seeing more of Danni, with police planning to use drug dogs on a regular basis in and around the Casey, Greater Dandenong and Cardinia area, including on public transport.
“These dogs are highly effective and we intend to use them along with other antidrug methods to break down drug use in the area,” she said.
