A german shepherd is praised for multiple rescue missions
A West Yorkshire Police Dog and his handler have been awarded with a medal from the PDSA following a job where they helped locate a missing vulnerable elderly woman in 2007.
The PDSA invited PC White to nominate Ty for an award, after he and the job were mentioned in a newspaper article last year.
PC Jerry White, and his dog Ty – a German Shepherd, were called to an incident where an 86-year-old woman had gone missing from a care home in Mirfield in the early hours of 3rd May 2007.
As the first officer on the scene, Jerry established that the missing lady had already been absent for over two hours and had taken a number of sleeping tablets.
The woman was apparently wearing only thin nightwear, was unsteady on her feet and appeared to be very confused, according to care home colleagues.
PC White located the door where the missing person had exited the property and set Ty to work.
Ty quickly established the scent and following a search, located the missing 86-year-old trapped in garden fencing, under some bushes.
They were able to contact other officers and paramedics who made their way to the scene to rescue the woman, and make sure she was ok.
The consequences of not locating the missing person that evening could have been fatal.
However, thanks to the swift action of PC White and Ty, the dangerous situation was brought to a safe and successful conclusion.
Ty was originally from a dog rescue and was adopted by the police in 2003, when he was two-years-old.
Initially, Ty was trained as a general purpose dog, but later qualified as a firearms search dog, support dog and a specialist firearms dog.
Throughout his career, Ty detained a number of offenders – including murder suspects.
Although being the type of dog that people generally expect to be aggressive, many officers found him to be very social and friendly.
Away from work, he enjoyed nothing more than sunbathing in the garden.
Ty retired in 2011 and passed away in 2013.
PC White, has been a dog handler for 13 years, and presently has Nez, a black German Shepherd, and Murphy – a Springer Spaniel – known not only for his enthusiasm but distinctive Mohican hair cut.
Chief Inspector Chris Corkindale of West Yorkshire Police Protective Services Operations said: “It is always a pleasure to recognise the exceptional hard work and dedication of our colleagues.
“This award is even more special, recognising the tremendous work of one of our sadly departed police dogs, Ty.
“Incidents like this one further emphasise the rationale for police forces making use of resources such as police dogs, and how valuable they are to the policing family in being able to help solve crime, and protect the vulnerable.”
PC Jerry White, Dog Handler said: “I am delighted to receive this award today on behalf of Ty. His work that night – like every other deployment – was exceptional, and without him I am not sure that we would have been able to locate the missing lady so swiftly.”
