Sergeant Felipe Peraza introduces Mackay to its first dedicated sniffer dog

Mackay Police has a new furry four-legged recruit and he’s brought with him a paw-some set of skills no other local PD possesses. Find out more.

A new four-legged police officer has hit the streets, walking his beat in Mackay and potentially schoolies alongside his two-legged handler.

The Mackay-Whitsunday District now has its very own black labrador sniffer dog, Police Dog Baron.

Sergeant Felipe Peraza, PD Baron’s partner, joined the Queensland Police Service more than 20 years ago and made it his purpose to join the dog squad as he thought “it was a pretty exciting job”.

Sergeant Felipe Peraza, his partner PD Baron and Mackay-Whitsunday District Superintendent Shane Holme emphasised the police role in educating the public on the dangers of drugs, with users more likely to perpetrate crime or become the victims of crime themselves. Photo: Fergus Gregg.

He cut his teeth in Fortitude Valley over nine years as a general duties police officer and a member of the tactical crime squad before he joined the Brisbane dog squad.

Twelve months later, he was deployed to Cairns for 10 years to help get their dog squad up and running before he was finally assigned to Mackay with two-year-old police puppy Baron in April.

“He’s still learning and developing,” Sergeant Peraza said.

PD Baron was trained in Brisbane with Sergeant Peraza over eight weeks to perform his duties and detect the odour of drugs.

Joining PD Baron as a mentor is Mackay’s grizzled dog squad veteran PD Nero, who is just two months away from retirement.

“He comes along and shows PD Baron what to do and how to do it,” Sergeant Peraza said.

“He gives him a little bit of insight and by the end of December he’ll get to retire.”

PD Neo is 10 years old and has been Mackay’s general purpose dog, assisting police in tracking and other operations.

Both PD Baron and PD Neo live with Sergeant Peraza or the Mackay-Whitsunday District’s other dedicated handler, allowing the handlers to develop strong bonds with the animals and read their signals.

PD Barons is Mackay’s first dedicated drug dog, with the district previously relying on dog squads from Townsville or Rockhampton. Photo: Fergus Gregg.

From 6pm to 6am on November 9 Mackay police conducted a targeted patrol throughout the Mackay CBD with PD Baron joining for drug detection.

Mackay-Whitsunday District Superintendent Shane Holme said the operation was a prelude to schoolies which is expected to see up to 1500 school leavers visiting the region.

“We will be taking action against people we believe are in possession of drugs at the moment largely to take those drugs off the street so they don’t make their way to that schoolies event,” Superintendent Holme said.

In the past 12 months police have made 490 charges in relation to drug offences in the Mackay Safe Night Precinct.

Sergeant Peraza said the dogs will be deployed to areas they are required during the schoolies period but warned passers-by while the harness was on, PD Baron was a working dog.

“Although it’s very tempting to come and give the dog a pat… let the dog do what he needs to do and have a play when he’s finished,” Sergeant Peraza said.

“If you want to help us, leave him alone and let him do his work.”

At the end of a long shift PD Baron relaxes with a treat to mark a job well done.