Meet the latest four-legged police recruit aiming to make it as canine crime fighter

A three-month-old puppy is the latest four-legged recruit aiming to make it as a canine crime fighter in North Wales.

Trainee Police Dog Mali, a gorgeous fox red Labrador pup is the newest member of the Cheshire and North Wales Police Dog unit.

Once fully trained Mali will work as a detection dog with the unit which is an alliance between North Wales and Cheshire police forces.

Specialist search dogs are trained to detect firearms and ammunition, cash and drugs and are an invaluable crime-fighting tool for the police.

The Cheshire and North Wales dog section has over 20 dog handlers and around 40 dogs which provide a 24-hour, seven day a week response across the two force areas.

The unit launched its own puppy programme five years ago and has an 85 per cent success rate in training the dogs so that they make the grade.

Most police handlers will have a general purpose dog and a specialist dog such as Mali.

Once a dog is allocated to a handler it will remain with them for the duration of its working life which is usually around eight years.

Mali will go through environmental training, getting used to public places, traffic, noise and exposed to different people and other animals for up to 18 months before going on more specific police dog training courses.