Aberdeen police reveal their newest recruit - puppy Bodie

POLICE officers in Aberdeen have unveiled their latest weapon in the fight on crime '“ nine-week-old German Shepherd Bodie.

German Shepherd puppy Bodie is eager to get started. Picture: ANA

At just 9kg the young puppy currently tips the scale as a bit of a lightweight but by the time he has completed his training his handlers believe he could hit 50kg.

The cute canine was drafted in from the Metropolitan Police, in London, and is now calling Aberdeen home.

Eventually he will take to the streets side-by-side with officers to combat crime in the Granite City.

Eventually he will take to the streets side-by-side with officers to combat crime in the Granite City. Picture: TSPL

Police Constable Steve Warden said: “It’s a very important role. Animals provide an extremely beneficial and worthwhile service keeping people safe and fighting crime.

“He came through a police breeding programme – we have some serving police dogs that came through the same system so we have high hopes for him.

“He’s a good sized German Shepherd and he will probably gain about 40kg.

“He’s got good drive – hence why we selected him, we go through a process and to get to this stage he has obviously excelled and exceeded his brothers and sisters in the litter.

Eventually he will take to the streets side-by-side with officers to combat crime in the Granite City. Picture: TSPL

“His character marks him out. He’s full of life, inquisitive, he’s confident and shows a bit of bravado to say the least.

“He really just fits in well around other dogs and people.

“I can almost tell you now he will be a trainable police dog.”

The handler was enthusiastic for the dog’s prospects and believes he will go on to achieve great things in the force.

“He will be asked to carry out general police dog duties,” he said.

“The majority of which will be looking for missing people, searching crime scenes for any evidence of outstanding persons and a number of other things to keep people safe.

“He’s young but puppies training can start from now.

“You can see he will be trainable – he’s already sitting on command.

“He will be integrated into the police family slowly, but in terms of training we can start now.

“The more intensive stuff will start once he turns nine months and ideally we will have him up and running by 15 months and potentially on the street and pounding the beat.”

One of the key skills the dog instructor hopes Bodie will gain is being able to tell the criminals from the general public.

“A German Shepherd can scare the baddies with his natural presence, but we don’t always want to scare everyone, quite the opposite,” Steve said.

“To become a very good police dog he needs to know who are the good guys and who are the bad guys.

“To get a dog to understand that is the hard part but we have high hopes for Bodie.”

Future Scotland: Scotland’s tech sector, innovation and big ideas >>