Search dog Zak (and handler Kevin) from Lowland Search Dogs Southern (our neighbours in Hampshire) are nominated for the Dogs Trust Honours 2012 award. Please add your support to these life saving volunteers by voting for them on the Daily Mirror Poll.
Thanks.
[Above: Team members Pete, Mick, Kas & Sharon and Chairman Steve receiving the award from Deputy Chief Constable York]
Award from Operations Division of Sussex Police
The team have been honoured with an award from the Operations Division of Sussex Police for their work in search for missing and vulnerable people.
It was a significant honour for our team to be invited to a presentation ceremony earlier today to receive an award alongside serving police officers and operational support teams that are in the front line when it comes to dealing with complex, sensitive and often dangerous activities. It was certainly very humbling to hear Chief Superintendent Paul Morrison as he provided the background to each of the awards and to find ourselves amongst officers receiving awards for dealing with some very difficult situations, often putting their own saftey at risk in the process.
The awards were presented by Deputy Chief Constable Giles York who has a wide range of responsibilities across the force including the management of the forces performance, risk, change and reputation. The ceremony was also supported by three VIP guests all independant lead members of the Sussex Police Authority: Peter Bratton, Emma Daniel and Alan Price JP.
This is the first time the police have extended the awards to the volunteer teams and we were in good company with our collegues in Sussex Search & Rescue (SusSAR) and the 3 Neighbourhood Watch Search Teams also receiving awards for their equally valuable work. Between the teams we have a significant capability for helping the police quickly find missing people and return them to safety.
We’d like to thank Sussex Police not only for this award, but also for the ongoing support and encouragement we get from POLSA’s and other officers we work with operationally.
[Above: Chief Superintendent Morrison, Alan Price JP, Emma Daniel, Peter Bratton & Deputy Chief Constable York]
It’s been a busy time for the team recently with callouts on Christmas Day, New Years day and again on 5th Jan.
All of these incidents are co-ordinated by specially trained police officers known as a Police Search Adviser or POLSA.
Sergeant Lorna Dennison-Wilkins was the POLSA on 5th Jan and she has provided an excellent and informative write-up of the search incident from the police perspective on her blog. The write-up includes videos with our own Chairman and two of the senior members of our collegues from Sussex Search & Rescue (SUSSAR).
Many thanks to Bognor Regis and District Dog Training Club for their fantastic efforts during 2011 raising funds for Lowland Search and Rescue Dogs Sussex.
They put on a wonderful dog show during the summer, there was an amazing sponsored bicycle ride too amongst other great efforts for all their members.
We had a great time at their Christmas party on the 2nd of December at the Village Hall where they train and were made to feel very welcome. We were even invited to take part in their Christmas Games and Jet, Morgan, Roxy and Cain had a wonderful time and put up a good show for the search team, Cain winning “Hunt The Sausage”!
The Cheque was enormous £1660 and we cannot stress how much donations help our work, being a 100% funded by donations!! Thank you so much to all those involved.
Further details of the club and committee can be found on their website: http://www.bognordogclub.org.uk/about_dog_club.htm.
Meet Cain, he is an 8 week old Border Collie. Cain is going to be working for Steve our Chairman as he grows up. Cain’s Mum and Dad are both working sheep dogs. He is a very confident loving little boy. He is a bundle of mischief but is also very bright and already knows the ‘Sit’ command and will come when he is called.
