Police dog team pelted with bricks and fireworks by rioters receives award

A police dog team that faced down rioters during last summer’s disorder will be recognised at an annual awards ceremony.

The squad from Staffordshire Police was deployed to Tamworth on August 4 2024, where they were pelted with bricks and fireworks.

They will receive the award for Police Dog Team of the Year at the annual Thin Blue Paw Awards at the Kennel Club in London on Wednesday.

Police guard a cordon in Tamworth the day after rioting broke out (Jacob King/PA)PA Archive/PA Images - Jacob King

Pc Leah Smith from the team, who works with a dog called Bones, who was burned by a firework, said: “Having fireworks hurled at us was one of the scariest situations I’ve experienced.

“We couldn’t escape the situation as we knew we needed to protect the front line.”

Colleague Pc Ruth Jones, who handles a German Shepherd called Ebony, said: “This deployment was one of the most intense and challenging experiences of my career.

“It was a day of extreme hostility that tested every aspect of our training, teamwork, and resilience.”

Police dog Vixen was injured after she was kicked and hit with a brick during the disorder (Staffordshire Police/PA)PA Media - Staffordshire Police

An individual award will go to another service animal who found a key piece of evidence as part of an investigation into a car crash that killed an eight-month-old baby in May last year.

Pc Dan Cuthbertson and his dog Louie were sent out to the scene of the collision in Durham, without knowing at that time that he knew the victims Zackary Blades and the baby’s aunt Karlene Warner, who had both been killed.

Louie became a police dog after being abandoned in Gateshead, then rescued and trained up by Durham Police to be a digital detection dog.

The dog found a mobile phone belonging to the driver of the car that had hit the Peugeot 308 in which Miss Warner and Zackary were travelling.

PD Louie was rescued from the streets of Gateshead and became one of Durham police’s first digital detection dogs (Thin Blue Paw Foundation/PA)

It showed that drink driver Darryl Anderson had made several calls and sent a string of text messages while driving, and had taken a photo within a second of the fatal crash that showed he was travelling at 141mph.

Pc Cuthbertson said: “No matter what job you do, you always give your all and want to get results but when it’s so personal, it means everything.

“The scene was in tatters. Louie was so focused and worked around all the difficulties the scene posed.”

Yoiko defended his handler from a man wielding a shovel by biting him in the stomach (Thin Blue Paw Foundation/PA)

Other awards go to Humberside Police dog Yoiko, who received the Outstanding Bravery Award for defending his handler, Pc Tom Marsden, from a man wielding a shovel in a room where he had set the curtains and furniture on fire.

The dog was given a double cheeseburger from McDonald’s as a reward after the standoff in Hull.

A Lifetime Achievement Award will go to retired police dog Fiji from Surrey Police, while a Lifesaver Award will go to Dutch from Cleveland Police, who, along with handler Pc Josh Lindley, saved the life of a missing man in Hartlepool during his first shift.

Pc Leandra McCurry from Leicestershire Police will be given a Special Recognition Award for her commitment to her career despite setbacks and bereavements, while Pc Marissa Barwell from Surrey Police will receive the Crimefighting Duo Award for her work with her dog, Ella.

Thin Blue Paw Foundation chairman Kieran Stanbridge said: “The Thin Blue Paw Foundation was set up to celebrate, protect and support both working and retired police dogs across the UK.

“Every day, police dogs and their handlers put their lives on the line to protect the public and fight crime.

“We launched the Thin Blue Paw Awards to celebrate these incredible dogs and everything they achieve in the line of duty.”