Newly trained police dog finds wanted man hiding in West Sussex garden shed
20 month-old Phantom tracked down the suspect last Saturday afternoon.
A newly trained police dog has managed to find a wanted man hiding in a garden shed in West Sussex.
Phantom is among several German Shepherd puppies bred by the Surrey and Sussex Police Dog School in 2018 who are starting to find their feet – or in this case, paws.
On Saturday afternoon (14 November), he was tasked to search for a suspect who had run from police and started garden hopping in the Angmering area.
He was wanted for a breach of conditions having been released from prison.
Sussex Police has said a number of officers helped to contain the area while PC Jamie Jackson searched gardens with his canine counterpart.
Phantom soon indicated on a shed in Lawrence Avenue.
PC Jackson said:
"The shed was stacked with chair cushions, garden furniture and tools.
"I asked Phantom again to ‘find him’, and he started to scramble to the back of the shed.
"I made my way to the back corner of the shed with Phantom, where he barked at a table top covering the bottom corner.
"I lifted this table top and saw the suspect hiding underneath it.
"I withdrew and called the suspect out of the shed, who said he was giving up as long as the dog didn’t bite him."
The suspect was subsequently arrested and has been released under investigation, pending further enquiries.
Phantom, who is around 20 months-old, is qualified as a general purpose police dog.
He is trained in various disciplines including searching open ground or buildings for suspects, tracking suspects or missing people, and searching for discarded property.
His ‘P’ litter siblings who are also newly qualified include Perry, Piper, Percy, Panza and Paws.
PC Jamie Jackson, of the Surrey and Sussex Police Dog Unit, added:
"Currently, Phantom is a young, big bundle of excitable energy and at times mischievous but with a great personality.
"He loves going to work and is always extremely keen every time the tracking harness comes out.
"We have recently come off our initial course and I have been absolutely delighted by this result after all those weeks of training.
"Hopefully this shows that he is starting to transfer his skills into the real world."