New Zealand Police is congratulating Fijian Police Officer Corporal Sailasa Kerekere and his dog Villain on their graduation from the Police Dog Training Centre (DTC) in Trentham today.

Corporal Kerekere marked the occasion in front of Fiji Police training Sergeant Nuimaia Lawanicina and training staff from the DTC.

This is Corporal Kerekere’s second operational dog, and he now heads back to the front line with an explosives specialist, a black Labrador called Villain.

“My first dog Hague and I worked together for two years as a drug detector team. I covered a large area with him, and this new pup Villain is a great dog too. I think he’ll be really good at his job,” he says.

The team trained at Trentham, supported under New Zealand and Fiji Police’s Partnership Programme and the Pacific Detector Dog Programme.

National Coordinator Police Dogs and Pacific Detector Dog Programme (PDDP) Manager, Inspector Todd Southall, congratulated Corporal Kerekere.

“Corporal Sailasa Kerekere has trained here in Upper Hutt for eight weeks and now the rest of his training is completed back in Fiji under the watchful eyes of advisors from the PDDP,” he says.

New Zealand Police has a close partnership with its Pacific neighbours and the PDDP is part of a commitment to increase safety across the region.

The DTC has been working with Pacific countries for much longer than the PDDP has been running, Inspector Southall says.

“About 20 years ago we started to work with some of the Pacific countries – initially the Cook Islands, Samoa, and Tonga, then later Fiji and now French Polynesia and New Caledonia has been added this year.”

The PDDP officially started in 2018, funded through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

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