The Metropolitan police may have to cut the size of its police dogs unit due to budget cuts, the force’s commissioner has admitted.
Sir Mark Rowley ruled out culling the unit entirely but indicated it was one of the areas likely to be targeted as the force tries to limit the feared loss of more than 1,000 officers.
There are thought to be about 230 police dogs working with Met officers, including 70 able to be used for public order, 12 for search and rescue, 50 to detect explosives and 40 able to detect drugs and guns.
Asked on LBC on Friday by a former Met officer whether the dog unit was set to be axed, Sir Mark replied: “We have to make these tough choices.
“We are not going to get rid of all police dogs but we might have to reduce the size of the dog section, because we've got to make these choices if you've got less money.”
He added: “I understand your support for the dog section, and I wish I wasn't making these choices, but we're going to have to.”
Sir Mark warned in December that the Met was facing a £450m shortfall that could result in the loss of 2,300 officers.
But since then the Government has offered more funding than expected and London mayor Sir Sadiq Khan has proposed increasing his share of council tax to generate an additional £54m for the Met.
This week research by the London Assembly estimated that 1,300 officers may still be lost from the force.
Sir Mark told LBC that the Met was a “shrinking organisation” and added: “I’m worried about next year. I won’t know the final budget position until February.
“I’m not going to relish any of the cuts we might need to do.”
He said one reason the Met had come out of special measures because it had put greater resources into neighbourhood policing and tackling violence against women and girls.
The Met’s dog support unit provides 24/7 support to frontline officers needing help with searches. The dogs are trained to find items like drugs, explosives, money and human remains.
The Met’s Dog Training Establishment is in Keston, Bromley. It also trains and licenses dogs and handlers from other police forces.
There are more than 100 purpose-built kennels. The unit is where staff provide veterinary support and care to all Met dogs.
It also manages an in-house breeding programme. It takes about 12 to 14 months to train a dog and dog handler.
New dog handlers in the DSU are allocated a puppy, which will either be an eight-week-old German Shepherd or a Malinois.
Officers undertake regular training at Keston while also training their dog in their own time.
The dogs live with, and are cared for, by dog handlers in their own homes.
A freedom of information request answered by the Met police last year said that, as of November 2023, it had 120 general purpose dogs, of which 34 are firearms support trained, 70 are public order trained and 12 are USAR (urban search & rescue) trained.
The response said the Met also had 50 explosive detection dogs, 40 drugs, firearms and cash detection dogs, 10 digital media detection dogs and 13 forensic evidence detection dogs.
