They are now ‘officially’ on patrol.
On Monday, Delta police Chief Neil Dubord presented badges to Const. Catherine Fiddick and Ziva as well as Const. Sunny Gahunia and Remi.
The officers were selected from 25 applicants for the department’s new Traffic Specialty Dog Unit.
Dubord said the goals or mandate of the TSDU is to be highly visible on the roadways, highly visible within the other sections of the department, and highly visible in other areas where they can assist their partners like CBSA and BC Ferries.
Dubord said the unit has been more than a year in the making.
“I think we were looking for how we might be able to manage some extra traffic enforcement, to be able to manage some of what we know criminals are making their way through our city as well as engaging our public in a more meaningful way,” said Dubord. “The best way we thought we could do that is through a canine unit – and a canine unit that would be working our highways through traffic safety, then looking at the Boundary Bay Airport to Point Roberts’ border, the ferry terminal and then the ports.”
The dogs came from Pacific Coast K9, a specialty breeder from Custer, Wash. The dogs were both born in Texas.
Both officers trained in Victoria with the Victoria Police Department’s canine unit for 10 weeks.
