Police dog training here at Banks's Stadium...
TRAINING has taken place at Banks’s Stadium this week, but there’s not been a footballer in sight!With the players off in sunnier climes recharging their batteries right now, the venue has been handed over to the West Midlands Police Dog Handling Unit.
“This is an excellent venue for us to use as a training area for our police search dog capability,” said PC Wayne Mellings, Dog Training Instructor for West Midlands Police. “We’ve been able to do various training exercises, whilst at the same time the handlers get used to Banks’s Stadium as a venue, which can only be a good thing to reassure supporters should a real incident occur on a matchday in the future.
“We are continually looking for opportunities to engage with local organisations such as Walsall FC and strengthen the excellent relationships that already exist.
“Bringing this type of training back over to this side of the Midlands, having previously worked in the Coventry and Warwickshire area, means that we will be looking to do further dog training here such as searching for narcotics and thus promoting the venue as a drug-free zone.”
As a club we are only too happy to work with the West Midlands Police in this way to help ensure that our local area is as safe as possible. The police dogs and their handlers do an excellent and extremely important job and seeing them in action during training makes you realise exactly what skill they have.