Animal Welfare Visiting Scheme

Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, and Hertfordshire Independent Dog Welfare Visiting Scheme is administrated by Cambridgeshire Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner on behalf of all three Police and Crime Commissioners.

The scheme’s target is that the volunteers visit all police dogs in a six-month period and report on their findings.

The scheme administrator liaises with the dog unit if issues are noted.

Issues are resolved swiftly with the visitors being kept informed of the actions taken.

If there are serious issues found by the visitor, they are instructed to immediately report.

The scheme administrator’s main duties are to:

• Manage and coordinate dog welfare visits.
• Collate findings and respond to issues identified by volunteers.
• Send regular schedules of dog training events to the visitors.
• Administrate and chair six-monthly meetings.

History

Following the death of a police dog whilst in training in Essex in 1997 and the resulting loss of public confidence in training methods, a review was carried out by the association of Chief Police officers a (ACPO).

From this, a strategy was developed to restore public confidence, part of this was the establishment of Animal Welfare Lay Visitors Schemes.

In 2006, the Animal Welfare Act brought in an even greater responsibility for police forces to provide for the needs of the dogs in their care. The Animal Welfare Act 2006 applies to England and Wales.

In 2009 the Police Authority took over the administration of the scheme until November 2012 when Police and Crime Commissioners became responsible.

In February 2009, Herts and Beds entered into a collaborative agreement and the Joint Dog Unit was established on the 1st of April 2009.

Collaboration between the Bedfordshire & Hertfordshire Police Dog Unit and Cambridgeshire’s Police Dog Unit was completed on 1 April 2013.  

In advance of this, a joint Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Independent Dog Welfare Visiting scheme was established in December 2012.

The Office of Cambridgeshire Police and Crime Commissioner administer the joint scheme.