HE HAS only been an active member of the force for nine months – but Police Dog Troy is no stranger to sniffing out trouble.
There was certainly no paws-ing for breath last week after the German shepherd helped to hunt down a suspected street robber in Birmingham.
The two-and-a-half year-old is a graduate from the force’s dedicated training unit at Balsall Common and became a fully-fledged member of the police team at the end of last year.
He has already played a leading role in a series of arrests including a suspected car thief hiding up a tree in Rubery, a man involved in a siege situation in Erdington, and assisting with finding a missing man in Bromford.
In his most recent success Troy managed to track down a teenage robbery suspect after a woman was assaulted and had her phone stolen in Grasmere Road, Handsworth.
He managed to detain a 14-year-old boy and then sniff out the mobile phone in park bushes after a search of the surrounding area.
The teenager and another boy – aged 13 – were both arrested on suspicion of robbery and bailed pending further enquiries.
As the first National Dogs Day was marked on Friday (August 26) Troy and his handler PC Mark Collier marked the occasion together.
The crime fighting duo will be aiming for many more years of catching crooks, sniffing out valuable evidence and finding vulnerable, missing people.
Mark said: “I am still relatively new as a dog handler but Troy is great to work alongside and never flinches whatever the scenario.
“We have already built up a really strong bond and he has become like a family member.
“We spend a lot of time together and Troy has been involved in more than a dozen arrests so far.
“You never know what you are going to encounter; but there is no doubting the important role that police dogs play in the force.
“It’s not just chasing down crime suspects but there are other skills which a normal officer can’t do such as picking up a scent over a long distance.
“Troy may be relatively new but I like to think he is making a real difference and will carry on doing so for a long time!”
