Criminals pay for drugs dogs

Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire have two new recruits for their dog section in the form of two new drugs dogs reports the BBC.

The unusual aspect of this story is that the dogs were paid for directly by funds recovered from criminals by using the Proceeds of crime Act. My initial thoughts were “what a great idea” but upon reflection it isn’t perhaps as generous to the dog section as it first appears. Both dogs came from local rescue centres and so the dogs would have cost very little in monetary terms. I know things are costed in terms of wages and staff hours etc these days but I am wondering how much money the dog section actually received and whether in this climate of cuts, funding dog sections in such a way would be an option to real cuts. I would be interested to hear from anyone involved as to how the funding works or whether it is more of a PR exercise. I know Essex did a similar thing and am wondering if this could be an option for our force when/if the axe falls.