Cobourg Police Service welcomes return of canine unit
When his snout isn’t to the ground sniffing out a human scent or contraband, Atos might be found soaking up rays in his handler’s sunny backyard and savouring a liver treat or two when he’s being a good boy.
While Atos, a one-and-a-half-year-old German shepherd, enjoys his downtime, he’s happiest with his paws on the pavement in active training for his role as the new four-legged member of Cobourg Police Service.
After a 25-year hiatus, the canine unit is returning to CPS. During a recent police services board meeting, attendees were introduced to Const. Amrit Gill and Atos, following the duo’s recent graduation from an intensive canine training program led by the Guelph Police Service.
Gill and Atos have been immersed in exercises alongside canine teams from the Halton Regional Police Service, Guelph Police Service, Belleville Police Service, Brantford Police Service and Windsor Police Service, and were supported throughout the process by Guelph police’s trainer Const. Jay Hall.
During a ceremony last week, CPS police services board chair Adam Bureau and retired sergeant Don Missen, the service’s former canine handler, presented the official canine unit badge to Gill and Atos, symbolizing the return of a program that has had a meaningful place in the service and for the Town of Cobourg, CPS said.
Cobourg Chief of Police Chris Leather told the Independent the canine unit will once again have an important role for CPS moving forward.
“At the very basic level, it’s enhanced capability to apprehend and detect folks who are fleeing from the police – let’s say in the case of a break-and-enter in-progress or a vehicle pursuit where suspects are trying to leave the area because police are already onsite or coming on scene,” said Leather. “Canine gives us tremendous ability for those apprehensions.”
He said the unit is also extremely useful in controlled environments like searches of large areas – fields, large structures, out-buildings, et cetera.