Handlers defend dog’s reputation

Press, 10 December 1983, Page 1

Handlers defend dog’s reputation

Christchurch police dog handlers have denied an assertion that two escapers from Paparua Prison had to comfort an “elderly" police dog that had tracked them down.

The dog, Fritz, aged five, shown above with his handler, Constable Keith Nicol, was in fact an “outstanding” animal, said the head of the Christchurch police dog section, Sergeant Harold Surgenor. Mr D. J. Taffs, counsel for the two prison escapers, told the District Court this week that the pair found water for the “exhausted” police dog which found them, and stayed with it. He said the “elderly” police dog used in the hunt became separated from its handler. The warm day apparently took its toll of the dog because he “virtually

collapsed” beside the escapers. Sergeant Surgenor and Constable Nicol have both denied that version of events.

Constable Nicol said that the prisoners, not he and Fritz, were the exhausted ones. They were “puffing and blowing” when found. The morning before the search he and Fritz had taken part in a training exercise. Later that day they were called to Paparua Prison to help track the two men.

It was a hot day, “heavy going,” and the prisoners had travelled some distance, Constable Nicol said. He was with Fritz when he found the prisoners. Nor did they have to find water for Fritz because he was “so exhausted.”

According to Constable Nicol, one of the prisoners said: “It’s a fair catch, cop.” He then allowed the prisoners to have a smoke before escorting them back to a patrol car. Sergeant Surgenor described Fritz as the best dog

the Christchurch police had. Fritz was in his prime and already this year had been engaged in 69 successful hunts. He was agile rather than elderly, he said. “On the day he tracked the escaped prisoners it was very hot and he may have been tired at the end of the chase,” Sergeant Surgenor said.

“However, he did manage to catch them, didn’t he?” Police dogs had to “sit” two tests each year to ensure they were up to standard. They were retired if they failed a test, Sergeant Surgenor said.

Fritz was in the news in November, 1980, when he was stabbed in a struggle outside the Civic Theatre. He has since recovered from the wound to become the top police dog in Christchurch.