Hon Judith Collins

Minister of Police and Corrections
21 September 2016 Media Statement

Minister congratulates Police and Corrections on success at National Police Patrol Dog Championship

Minister of Police and Corrections Judith Collins has congratulated Senior Constable Blair Spalding and his dog Rush on winning the National Police Patrol Dog Championship.

“The competition was stiff but Blair and Rush have taken the Frank Riley Cup as National Patrol Dog champions and I offer them my most heartfelt congratulations,” says Minister Collins.

The dog teams from the Department of Corrections also performed exceptionally well, with Corrections Officer Karina Thomas and Jesse, from Auckland and Senior Corrections Officer Damian Hancock and Storm, from Christchurch taking out second and third place in the Narcotic Detector Dogs section.

“I’m pleased to see our dogs and their handlers completing competition tasks to such a high calibre,” she says. “It gives me great confidence and pride to know these handlers and canines are working so hard to keep our communities safe.”

Competing teams were set a number of tasks and disciplines based on what the teams encounter in their day to day working environment. The championship has three categories – police patrol dogs, narcotic detector dogs and explosive detector dogs.

In the narcotic and explosive detector dog categories, the dog teams competed against their peers from Police, Corrections, Customs, Aviation Security and NZ Defence.

Minister Collins congratulated the prize winners from all categories, and the finalists, for their success.

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