When was the first trained dog used for law enforcement?
The earliest recorded instance of a specially TRAINED Doc being used for law enforcement in Britain occurred at Midmar Lodge, Aberdeen shire on 8 February 1816, when a bull terrier employed for detection work by Revenue Officer Malcolm Gillespie took part in the arrest of a party of whisky smugglers. The dog had been taught to seize suspects’ horses by the nose, making them rear up and drop their loads. The Midmar Lodge episode resulted in the capture of four ankers of illicit spirit, and another four staved in. The bull terrier was shot dead in another engagement near Kintore on 30 July of the same year.
The regular use of trained dogs for police work was first recognized officially by the police authorities of Ghent, Belgium in 1899. For some time prior to this date the Ghent Police had been using dogs experimentally on night duty.
The first dog used for criminal detection by a police force in Britain was a bloodhound lent to Blackburn Police in April 1876 to aid them in tracing down the murderer of seven-year old Emily Holland, a child who had been sexually assaulted and then had her throat cut. The dog was first taken to a field at Bastwell, where the multilated body had been found, but it failed to pick up scent. It was then taken to the house of two suspects. In the first of these the dog betrayed no excitement, but in the second, a barbershop in Moss Street, it led the police to a fireplace where the head of the child was found concealed in the chimney. The occupier of the house, William Fish, was arrested and subsequently confessed to the crime.
The regular use of police dogs in Britain was introduced for the first time by the North Eastern Railway Police Force early in 1908 at the instigation of the Chief Goods Manager, E.C. Geddes.
The first of the City and Country Police Forces of Britain (i.e. other than railway police) to use dogs was the Wiltshire Constabulary, whose Chief Constable, Col Hoel Llewellyn, began using a bloodhound for tracking in 1910. This dog was not on the official strength of the Force, but in 1912 they acquired a number of Labradors for night-patrol work.
