Meet the police dogs and their handlers biting down on property crime

The NT Dog Operations Unit is helping to tackle Darwin’s escalating crime. We take you inside the unit and what it takes to be a member of the specialist team.

Watching Arnhem run through an obstacle course, soar through a ring about a metre off the ground and rush back for a pat and praise, he is easily mistaken for another beloved pet.

But away from the course and when called up for duty, the black German shepherd is anything but the usual household companion.

He is one of NT Police’s best and brightest patrol dogs, helping to tackle Darwin’s escalating crime – particularly property crime.

NT Police’s latest crime statistics show that property crime continues to rise, with 218 commercial break-ins during August compared to 178 in July, while house break-ins increased from 174 to 192.

Arnhem is one of three patrol dogs in the Dog Operations Unit connected to Strike Force Trident, a specialist branch of NT Police dedicated to investigating property offences and break-ins.

Senior Constable Matthew Houghagen and Daly (L) are part of the NT Police Dog Squad. Picture: Glenn Campbell

Trident was established in September 2012 as part of a crackdown on property crime across Darwin, Palmerston and the rural area.

It’s up to “Arnie”, along with his brother Daly, another of the DOU’s fresh graduates who officially joined the ranks this year, and Wedge, to track the suspects on the run from police.

“Their capabilities are person tracking, human-based odour detection, and criminal apprehension,” Senior Constable First Class Mathew Unwin, who handles Wedge, says.

Senior Constable Ben Stove and Arnhem part of the NT Police Dog Squad. Picture: Glenn Campbell

The dogs also search and clear buildings, and recover stolen items.

“The dogs are capable of locating … dropped items with fresh human odour on them,” Constable Unwin says.

“We’ve had finds up to four days old.”

For the handlers and the dogs, work doesn’t stop when they walk out of the office.

All of the dogs become pets to their handlers after hours, living at home alongside their families and other pets.

Police Dog Wedge and handler Senior Constable First Class Matthew Unwin helped to find an 18-year-old woman who had gone missing in bushland near the CBD last year. Picture: NT Police

“You need to be able to bond with your partner,” Senior Constable Ben Stove, Arnhem’s handler, says.

“Having the dogs at home provides that connection.

“We might clock off at the end of the day and hang up our uniform but our job doesn’t stop there. It’s a 24-hour seven-day-a-week job as a handler.”

It also makes police response even quicker.

“We can be on the road, kitted up with our dog within eight minutes of being called out,” Constable Unwin says.

Tracking suspects, who are sometimes armed, through dense scrub can make for some hairy situations when the DOU is NT Police’s best chance of catching someone on the run.

“Often it’s us or no one,” Constable Unwin says.

“If we don’t find them they’re probably not going to get found.”

But it can also make for some memorable moments.

Once, Constable Unwin and Wedge were called on to track a driver, suspected of being involved in drug trafficking, who had fled police in rural Darwin.

The driver had become bogged in the mud before pressing ahead on foot through dense bush.

Wedge eventually came to a tree, which he walked around trying to send his handler a message.

Senior Constable Ben Stove with Arnhem part of the NT Police Dog Squad. Picture: Glenn Campbell

Remembering a story from a fellow handler, Constable Unwin looked up and spotted the suspect, who was “just relaxing”, five metres up the tree.

“He had no shirt so he would have been getting smashed by mosquitoes like I was,” Constable Unwin says.

It was a lighthearted moment in an otherwise around-the-clock job.

But, according to officers in the DOU, they have the best job in the police force.

“It’s pretty hard to come to work and have a bad day when you’ve got a dog beside you,” Constable Stove says.

Originally published as Meet the police dogs and their handlers biting down on property crime